Ka Masters: Legacy
by Brent-Ka
Summary: Tails and a host of overused stereotypes are thrown into a dark conspiracy. Armed with only a stoic attitude, sarcasm, and a staff, can our favorite kitsune get to the bottom of it all?
1. A Rushed Start

"Life is weird. It's cruel, mostly painful and seems at times, to be specifically set against you.

So why value it?

If there's an afterlife why go through the formality of the actual life? Any higher purpose? What'ya you think Sonic? Uh...Sonic? Hello philosophical conversation here." A warm but calculating voice was talking.

The hedgehog stirred a little and opened his eyes.

"Oh yeah. Life. Never could get the hang of it." He yawned a bit.

"I swear you're about as interesting as sock lint sometimes." The voice said a little disappointed.

Sonic's eyes adjusted to who was talking. Tails as usual. A philosophical teenager. Great that's a blast in a gray afternoon.

"Maybe I'll be a better talker, if you come up with a subject that's vaguely interesting. Like convincing me that just lying here, even though there's no sun is pointless, and we should do something. Right now."

"Vaguely interesting? The entire world wonders about this stuff, and you just want to keep moving? C'mon what are your views? God? Nature? The reason why everything seems to be stacked against you?" The fox flailed his paws a bit.

"World's not stacked against me, it just can't keep up." Sonic pulled himself up and laid a gloved hand on the kitsune's shoulder. "And most importantly. SHUT YOUR YAP. No wonder you have no love life."

"Are you trying to embarrass me out of talking again?" Tails sat down next to him. "Because it's not working."

"Look, I really don't care about whatever metaphysical crap you bring up. It's just kinda pointless. Why are ya so interested in this stuff anyway?"

"You wouldn't get it." Tails looked away for a second.

Sonic sighed and sat back down.

"Let me guess, you're feeling useless aren't you?"

"How...?" The fox's jaw nearly dropped.

"Not so hard to figure that one out, too cliche. Now let's get going somewhere before my brain implodes in on itself."

"You know I'd appreciate some comfort." Tails' shoulders dropped.

"Fine, you're not useless, blah blah blah, good friend, blah blah blah, oh and let's not forget the fact you're a two-tailed flying mechanical genius." The hedgehog smirked.

"Oh yeah. That's touching. I'm going to go cry my eyes out now, why oh why did I ever think I was filler?" Tails rolled his eyes. "Look, I know you could go on for hours about all the stuff that I can do right, but...well think about it. How many times have we saved some nameless island?"

"A lot."

"Right. And how much credit did I get for it?"

"Since when did you start saving people for the glory?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Don't peg me with that heroic 'do it cause it's the right thing' speech. You certainly don't complain as long as you get free food, ticker tape parades, and cash thrown at you."

"Alright, so I'm not perfect. Everyone's gotta have some sorta job right? What'ya think? I'd get a job at the local Beef Baron? If I'm good at saving stuff, it's not my fault."

"Humble." Tails smiled. "So let's get back to the point. Someone mentions Sonic, they think, 'world saving hero'. Someone mentions me, they think, 'annoying freak that tags along'."

"I thought you like being the annoying freak that tags along."

"It...gets...old!" Tails flopped down directly onto the ground. "I'm filler, cannon fodder, the guy that just makes doltbrained observations and gives totally obvious advice. I'm getting really sick of it, when's my turn to fight?"

"Whenever you're in a giant mecha shooting lasers, like usual."

"That's not really the point here..."

"Not your turn to play hero by yourself just yet." Sonic's face grew a tad serious. "You'll get yourself killed."

"And there we go. Why? Am I weak?"

"Uh, no it's just...uh...well...look, it's not as easy as you think it is. You wanna put your life on the line?"

"Why not?" Tails shrugged.

"You're supposed to say no." Sonic sweatdropped. "And it's just sorta obvious you're not ready."

"Really? How so?"

"Because...because...you're...well you're Tails. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if you did become famous or something, soon enough, but not now. I need a sidekick."

"At least give me a chance to prove myself." Tails looked up at him.

"Oh no, don't even try it..."

"C'mon Sonic, you're my best bud, right?"

"This whole 'cute patheticness' act has got to stop. Fine. You go solo for one day. There I'll consider this my day off."

"O...kay. So what now?" Tails got up.

"I dunno. Go to the city, stop a couple bad guys, something's going wrong in the world, always is." Sonic got up also. "See ya, I'm going in for a late lunch." The hedgehog vanished at top speed leaving a furious wind behind, enough to lift the fox's tails up a bit.

_Right, something's always going wrong. _Tails lifted himself into the air a bit. _I'll just have to find out what._

_

* * *

_  
Thieves.

Too many of 'em nowadays. Stealing this, that, and anything else within a three mile radius.

It just so happened this one was a talking cat.

And we all know how much the world suffers from a lack of talking cats.

It's not that this one was particularly different. White fur, gray tipped tail...the only odd thing was a red bubba hat on his head.

He wasn't a very good thief either. Not to say he was bumbling, far from it, but he didn't know what in the world to actually steal. Ah well, an electronics store isn't a terrible place to start out.

No one he had met within the last 3 years had actually called him anything besides thief, idiot, and bastard...well except for Michael...if they did, they would of called him Brent.

He liked his name.

Not exactly rhythmic, a tad out of the ordinary, but when you're named something, you grow attached to it.

He knew he was supposed to be strong, or at the very least a decent fighter but unfortunately for him, he was just...okay. 3 years spent learning techniques, avoiding the Ta'Ka, and looking for somebody...

He had got the techs down decently. Getting a Ka Staff to swing in weird ways wasn't all that hard. The Ta'Ka always seemed to know exactly where he was though, which was extremely freaky, and the person he was looking for? Well, forget that.

He just wasn't as strong as he thought he'd be. Sure sometimes he'd be walking down the street and everyone else would just seem so _weak_. But he knew he was one of them. So much for genetic enhancement being the wave of the future. After all it was all just---

Did someone just say halt?

They _literally_ said halt!

And that's where he lost it.

* * *

"Alright, let's see if you can laugh after..." Tails looked on at the scene in front of him. "After I..." 

The cat continued to laugh at the top of his lungs nearly collapsing to the floor.

"C'mon you actually said 'halt'." He managed to choke out in between.

"Never mind what I said, you gonna fight back or what?" Tails took a step forward.

"Fine, oh great defender of justice." The cat managed to teeter himself back up, grabbing his hat from off the floor and dusting it off. "Go ahead."

"You're just gonna stand there?" Tails raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah. You're not gonna come after me?" The cat backed up a bit.

"I'm new at this!" They both yelled at each other.

Tails slapped his forehead. "Look, just try to escape, or something..."

"Fine." The cat dropped the laptop he was carrying to the floor and closed his eyes.

"That's not what I---whoa." Tails jerked back in amazement as a blue sphere grew out of nowhere.

"So, goodbye." The cat opened his eyes and laughed walking towards the sphere.

In one quick movement, Tails dived towards the feline, his feet going through the blue ball as he landed. His paw quickly jetted up.

The cat leaned back in time to narrowly miss it from contacting with his nose.

"I don't really do hand to hand." He smiled a little nervously backing up from the fox.

Behind them the sphere began to shrink.

"Too bad." Tails smiled darkly as he walked towards the thief.

"One thing I can do, is this." The cat unhooked something from a hilt on his hip and held out a blue staff in a threatening manner.

"That's a metal pole." Tails looked it over.

"Ka Staff." The cat said simply. "You my little two tailed friend are looking at a genuine Ka Master."

"So you're one of those guys that use a cheap version of kendo?"

"Well...uh...no! Not technically. But I can still bash your head in." The cat swung the staff immediately to his right.

"Oh come---erghh!" Tails was knocked back by a sudden impact on his left.

"Pretty cool huh?" The cat stepped towards the shrinking sphere and it enlarged. "I'll be leaving now."

"And...no you won't." Sonic zoomed in blocking him from the sphere.

"Hey, what happened to 'going solo'?" Tails got up and looked over at him angrily.

"Told ya you weren't ready yet." Sonic shurgged and turned to face the cat. "Well? How would you like to pummeled today?"

"Ha! As a Ka Master I have full authority..."

"To be destoryed by a hedgehog." Sonic folded his arms.

"So you were watching, huh? Don't trust me as far as you can throw me I guess." Tails mumbled.

"Look, in all honesty, I knew you were gonna blow it." Sonic looked over at the fox.

"So..." The cat stood there. "About that whole pummeling thing..."

"Oh great. There it is. I am weak huh?"

"No, you're a great sidekick." Sonic backed up a bit.

"Aha! There's my point!" Tails advanced. "I'M REALLY SICK OF IT!"

Sonic turned around to the cat again. "Still here? Why haven't you escaped yet?"

The cat shrugged. "I dunno."

"You're a theif. When an argument like this happens you're supposed to escape."

"What...why?"

"Because than I can get on to the chase scene!" Sonic yelled so loudly at the cat, he nearly fell forwards.

"Oh sure get on with your precious 'chase scene'. I guess I'll just come up with some Deus Ex Machina

invention in case you get in trouble." Tails stuck his tongue out.

"Would you quit whining already?" Sonic turned around once more. "You want me to say it? Fine I'll say it. You're weak. Happy? Good. Now shut up and let me finish." He turned back to the cat. "And will you please escape already!"

"That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If you threatened eariler to kill me, why are you begging me to run?" The cat wondered in confusion.

"BECAUSE THAN I CAN OUTRUN YOU!"

"But than why threaten to..."

"Oh so now the truth comes out, weak huh?"

Normally when a talking cat robs an electronic store, the police are called. They were currently waiting outside the door demanding the perpitrator come out with both arms up.

And so far everyone in the store was oblivious, what with a fight between a beloved hero, his sidekick and a thief going on.

"What about this guy huh?" Tails motioned a paw towards the cat. "He's gotta staff and techniques and crap like that."

"He's a thief." Sonic reeled back.

"Only because I'm bored." The cat mumbled.

"Besides fancy kendo rip-offs are not your thing." Sonic continued ignoring the cat.

"So I can't do it 'eh? You're saying I can't do it? Eh? Eh?"

"Would you stop with the "eh"s? They're not making you any tougher."

"Fine. Uh...you...talking cat thief...person..." Tails faced the cat.

"Brent Crayshen." The cat responded.

"Oh, um...Miles Prower..." Tails cleared his throat. "Tails, please."

"What's with the personality switch?"

"Apparently my friend here dosen't think I can learn any of that fancy staff crap. Think I could?"

"I can't teach it. There are laws."

"And half of them you're breaking right now." Sonic sweatdropped.

"Sorry Ta'Ka's orders. You'd have to go straight to the Acadmey."

"Acadmey? What is this a cheap Harry Potter knockoff?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I want to go." Tails folded his arms.

"Can't. You'd have to be apprenticed to an offical Ka...Master..." Brent stopped.

This could be it. An excuse to finally go back. No more minimum salary paychecks from the Ta'Ka, a chance to finally talk to everyone again, and best of all if he had an apprentice than maybe it...it could sort of be an apology to Mike...a symbolic apology sure, but it works. Why not? He didn't have anything left to lose.

"Alright, I accept." Brent said smugly.

"Accept what?" Sonic asked in a deadpan voice. "He's not going."

"C'mon Sonic, just check it out, pleaase big bro?" Tails looked up at him again.

"Oh sure, now you use the cuteness act after you snap at me...fine, just stop looking at me like that. I'll check it out. Where is it?"

The sphere behind them disappeared being replaced by a new growing one.

"Ever here of a bauble? Instantaneous transport...cool isn't it?" Brent looked over at the blue sphere.

"Right, and how is this done?" Tails asked.

"Um, some extremely scientific way that I don't know about..." Brent sweatdropped. "But who cares? Just get in."

"How did we go from stopping you, to going with you on a tour of a school?" Sonic asked stepping towards the bauble. "Isn't that a little rushed?"

"Oh shut up." Brent mumbled.

They stepped in.

And than it emerged.

----------------------------

Retrospective

-----------------------------

Ah, the almighty avatar. It's you only you're incredibly strong, you know exactly what to do in any dangerous situation , and you're charming to boot.

When I first wrote this thing, that's more or less how Crayshen came off. Then (thanks to a weird year at school) I found cliches work best when they're mocked.

This isn't a parody fic. It wasn't meant to be. The first chapter might be but trust me, I've got an overused bare bones plot involving genetic engineering and evil foxes named Karastil and a sexy cat girl in red armor. (Think what happens when you mix Breath of Fire 2 and Arcana)

I went over this stupid thing 30 times revising what terrible cliches I had, or making fun of them, or actually advancing the plot.

Believe it or not, I just wrote this first chapter today.

I've been working on the rest of it since last year.

Sometimes, things just pop out like that.

Be warned the rest of this is 98 fanchar crap and than no more Sonic, just Tails. I'm still proud of the characters I made, because I didn't make them, they made themselves out of necessity. (I'll explain later)

For nearly a year I refused to post this, "It's too cliche...I can't keep her name Sora, the Digimon and KH freaks'll kill me!...Arghh! I don't even understand the plot. How are they gonna?"

So in a fit of optimism I'm posting.

Don't get too excited about the next chapter, it's almost 100 dialouge.

Oh, and one last thing, say what you will, wave the manuals in front of my face, show me his kiddy personality I don't care, but I REFUSE TO BELIEVE TAILS IS 8! (He's 13 here. Makes more sense.)


	2. And What It Led To

Before I start, I'd just like to make sure I didn't give the wrong impression with the first chapter, I was a little overzealous to get this thing posted and you could feel the whole thing being rushed. (I made the stupid thing in one day) Unfortunately, the fic is already ruined by an overabundance of fancharacters.

28 of them.

I'm too far in to rewrite (116 pages speak for themselves) and you know what? I really can't get rid of them. You have all the classics, salty sea otter (Thank you Brain Jacques), incredibly hot genius catgirl, angry vixen, typical filler character to round everything out, and the insane rat that blows things up, everything's been said before and done to an extreme cliche, but for some reason I'm just too attached to them. The later chapters are much much better than the first pieces of tripe, so try and bear with me.

And here's a heads-up about this chapter....it's a little rushed too, so please ignore the duct tape and superglue. Alright, now that the annoying notes are over with...(until Retrospective) Let's get on with this C- quality story!

"I thought it would be bigger." Tails looked around judgmentally.

"Okay, a new session's starting so some graduates may have left a spot open for you. Just one problem. The Ta'Ka? They're not too enthusiastic about students showing up without tuition. And whatever they say, goes." Brent shook his head.

"Don't you know enough to train somebody on your own?"

"I'm not supposed to."

"Well that sucks..."

"I guess I better try my hand than. Why don't you guys go on a tour of the Academy or something?"

"Whatever..." Tails dashed off in the direction of the Sonic.

Brent sighed. Things were getting progressively worse. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

"If you're who I think you are, you are so dead.." A girl wildcat came out of the shadows. She was a orangish light brown with dark brown stripes, wearing a red armor breastplate with a small cape behind her. A red open helm-like head covering topped things off. (_Have any of you ever played Arcana?_)

"Salah?!" Brent backed up. "Uh, don't hurt me."

"You think you could come up with a better hello than that.. So Mr. Crayshen, how's life without the rest of us?" The wildcat asked with a tinge of anger.

"Boring. Actually I'm coming back. That kit that was here a second ago? I scouted him out. He looks like he'd do pretty good here so..."

"You're planning to ask the Ta'Ka if you can train him. You're crazy Brent, you've always been crazy and I don't know how Michael put up with you." Salah shook her head.

"To tell the truth I'm not sure how Michael-Ka....I mean how he did either."

"You still call him Michael-Ka?"

"I'm afraid if I just say Michael I'll get thwacked with a staff. But that's enough about my interesting life, what's new with you?....You haven't killed Slak yet have you?" The young cat smirked.

"I swear if he sets off just one more bomb, I'll have his tail on a platter." Salah shuddered.

"Good to know things haven't changed. Nice seeing you again Salah." Brent turned around and started walking.

"It's always an honor Fatmouth." Salah said from behind him. (_Yes an Azure Dreams rip-off! I'm sorry_)

Brent stopped in his tracks. How long had it been since he heard THAT?

Putting his paws behind his head, Brent headed to the Ta'Ka's offices to try and do the impossible.

Meanwhile Tails and Sonic were strolling along the hallway.

"For them just starting a new session, this place is pretty crowded." Tails looked around.

Sonic nodded. "It's weird how many kids would come out here just to learn how to swing a stick."

"It's an entirely different fighting style by itself!" The voice came from a bauble which suddenly appeared and vanished revealing an armored wildcat.

"I take it you're the one who thinks you can make it in on short notice." She nodded at the fox. "And you're his uh...guardian?" She looked at Sonic.

"Well not like....officially or anything." Sonic scratched the back of his head. "Anyway his name's Tails, and I'm Sonic."

"Well than hi."

"I said, I'm Sonic."

Salah blinked. "And I should care....why?"

"Never mind." Sonic sighed.

"I'm Salah Eterna one of the primary instructors here." She smiled at them.

"It's nice to meet you Salah......" Tails extended a paw but only got an angry look.

"Ka." She said a little reprimanding

"Um, ka to you too."

"No, you refer to Ka Masters with a suffix of Ka. Until you graduate."

"What, why?" Sonic asked "Haven't you guys ever heard of manga-ka? Once you know who they are the whole suffix thing seems stupid."

"It's tradition. Anyway I'm sorry for dragging you into that I'm just used to having the 'Ka' from students." Salah finally shook the fox's paw.

Tails smiled. "I'm glad to see all cats aren't so bad.

"If you're talking about Crayshen, I agree with you 100%. It gets worse. You're gonna have a hard time fitting in here." Salah started to frown

"What? What'ya mean?" Tails asked confused. "I mean, besides the uh....mutation thing."

"Heh, I thought Brent would have bragged about everything by now. You've got quite a teacher Tails." The tone came off a little sarcastically.

"Umm...Thanks." Tails looked a little confused at this.

"Just try not to tell anybody about it. You don't want their pity."

"Maybe they'd like to trade." Tails said with a smile.

But Salah was straight-faced. "You really don't know what you're getting into do you? Brent doesn't exactly have the best reputation. There's a bunch of rumors flying around that he's so powerful and everything but he isn't really that strong. Come to think of it, there's no reason he should be here in the first place. The kid's a lazy idiot who barely passed his classes, I don't know what makes him think he can teach them."

"Don't forget the part about him being a clueless sap." Sonic added.

"Don't even get me started." Salah sighed. "I've gotta go do something. Look kid, If Brent gets in you're way, just leave it to me." She smiled in a fierce manner baubling away.

Sonic backed up a bit. "That was creepy. Look if all the other teachers are gonna be like that you can forget coming here."

"What? The high and mighty Sonic the Hedgehog is scared of a wildcat?" Tails laughed.

"No, I'm scared of the large and heavy staff thing that could easily cave my head in." Sonic smirked.

"Good point. Thanks now I'm scared of my wits too." Tails also smiled and shook his head.

"And you expect us just to forget all of that and GIVE you an apprentice?" One of the Ta'Ka councilors, an elk frowned at Brent.

Brent felt like melting into the floor. Stupid intimidating councils.

"Oh be quiet." The mouse in the center yawned. "Let them in."

"You stay out of this!" The elk shouted. "Even the Ta'Ka head can't defy school policy."

Not good, not good at all. That mouse was Roddis. One of Michael's closest friends who had worked his way up to head of the Ta'Ka. He wasn't exactly an honored individual, his youth usually got in the way of things unlike the usual stereotypical old guy leading councils. All the same though this guy had such a bad reputation among the Ka Master community, to be recommended by him was almost social suicide.

"I'm not exactly pleased with this." The mouse said judgmentally, "But to at the very least honor Michael's memory and get you out of my sight, I give you permission to train this student in the Academy, but in return you must also take a role as a primary educator."

Great. More work. Peachy keen.

He was than sent out at the room as the elk and mouse started a large argument.

"Looks like I got some work cut out...." Brent sighed outloud so he could hear himself. Primary Educator? That was the last thing he wanted. He was beginning to think this was turning into a bad day.

The cafeteria was in a state of anarchy.

It would always and forever be in a state of anarchy. It was one of the laws of the universe.

Food flying, kids yelling, and miscellaneous animals clawing at each other to settle arguments. Bliss, pure and utter bliss.

"So, the teachers are evil, and the students are nuts." Sonic laughed. "Yeah this place looks like heaven."

"Look, at least give it a chance. It can't be all bad." Tails tried to enter the room.

"Watch it!" A young vixen with brown fur tackled him onto the ground as food went flying straight for him.

"Uhhh...Thanks?" Tails wheezed still pinned to the floor.

"Don't mind that, as long as there's light out, there's a never ending food fight going on in here."

"What about when most people are in class?" Sonic stood next to them, fighting off advancing oranges.

"The servers fling food themselves to make sure the balance isn't thrown off and the earth implodes." the girl fox laughed.

"Umm...Would you mind...?" Tails from the floor.

"Oh right sorry." She helped him up.

"I'm Sora Lateri."

"My name's Miles Prower but everyone calls me Tails."

"Why?"

He bought his two tails in front.

"Whoa, that's...."

"Freaky? Disgusting?...." Tails listed off the insults available.

"That's not what I was going to say. I think it's kinda cool."

"Really? Well you miss the whole social outcast thing by a mile."

"Hit the dirt!" She yelled pushing him down again just in time to miss the day's special.

"And that's my pal Sonic." Tails once again choked out pointing his paw in Sonic's direction.

"Huh. So a two tailed fox and a celebrity." Sora eyed them both suspiciously. "You two can forget about even living a day here. I can hardly make it."

"That does it, I'm going to go look for a hotel or something before I get my brains bashed in by plastic spoons." Sonic looked over at the two. "See ya later than Tails?"

"I'm perfectly fine!" Tails said with fake enthusiasm.

"Sure you are. Best of luck to ya little bro, everyone knows the standard vixen love interests are the best kind." Sonic winked and dashed off laughing the entire way.

"What was that all about?" Sora looked at him leave.

"Uh, heh..." Tails' muzzle turned a little red. "Let's just shoot for 'absolutely nothing.'

3 seconds later, a bauble appeared to reveal Brent stepping out.

"Ah, the cafeteria! Hasn't changed a bit....." He quickly dodged some potatoes and flung himself to the ground next to Tails.

"Good news! The Ta'Ka accepted you in."

"Fine, fine. Can you do something about the food?" Tails slowly got up to the point where he was just crouching underneath the food flinging.

Sora could do nothing but gape at Brent, even when she was hit with what was supposed to be meat.

"Tails?"

"Yeah?"

"If that's who I think it is, you're going to die."

"You mean Brent?....uh...Brent-Ka?"

"I KNEW IT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! HE'S-mmphgg!" Brent covered her mouth before she could say anything else.

"Don't say a word about this got it? I'm not some tyrannical Ka Master."

"Ha! The stories I've heard from Cume say you're nothing more than a walking death-thing...that likes....death." Sora slowed her sentence at the end, when she realized what she was saying.

"That was extremely stupid." Brent sweatdropped.

"Don't start with me and that hat looks lousy."

Brent pulled the bubba hat over his face.

"Look I'm sure you've seen some pictures in the old yearbooks...."

"Yeah, of you and Michael-Ka. Mostly you were just being whacked in the head with Michael-Ka's staff. But that is what created....you." Sora stopped again. "That's it. This is pathetic. Forget I said anything. Sora Lateri." She finally said shaking his paw.

"Okay....."

"Thwacked with a staff? That explains where most of your brain cells went." Tails smiled.

Brent thwacked him in the head with his staff.

"We'd better get out of here while we can." Sora waved a paw, gesturing around her. "It's the low point of the day in flinging food."

"Relax I'll just bauble you to a safe distance away from this." Brent created another sphere.

"I'd really like to know how that works." Tails scratched his head.

"Well here's what they taught us in class..." Sora started to explain as they crawled towards it.

And so began a long and lengthy explanation of how the bauble works which made perfect sense and was scientifically accurate, but since the author himself has exhausted all possibilities except magic, you can just make it up for yourself.

Now in the main hallway, Sora headed up the stairs. "Nice to meet Tails! You too Brent-Ka.!...I mean uh random mentor guy that's certainly not...a Ka Master....stop looking at me!" She passed a random student on her way up.

"Great cover-up!" Brent yelled after her.

"You're going to have trouble hiding your face around here." Tails laughed.

"Not for long. One of the conditions of your acceptance was that I become a part-time Primary Educator. Although it beats me why they just can't say 'teacher'."

"Ha! Not expecting that were you?"

"Shut up.

"Just a joke." Tails mumbled and kept on walking down the hall. "So who was this Michael guy?"

"..... My old master, not the easiest one in the world either, be glad you have kind, loving me." Brent thwacked him on the head, jokingly this time.

"But...well I guess you're only sixteen right?"

"Right."

"Than why isn't....." Tails didn't finish his question as he saw Brent's serious look.

"Ummm...when did you graduate?" He tried to make the atmosphere a little lighter.

"3 years ago."

"Cool that's my age."

"Yeah but I was training since I was nine."

"It's gonna take me 4 years?!"

"No, you can graduate in a matter of months, but a lot of people stay on to study."

"Oh."

By now they had neared the guest rooms.

"I guess you know what to do know?" Brent asked.

Tails nodded. This was the hard part.

Convincing Sonic.

"I suppose you're expecting me to say no, to give a witty beginning to this conversation. Well...no." Sonic said a little deadpan. "Look, I didn't really mean it when I said you were weak. I was a little stressed."

"Than why were you watching in the first place?" Tails asked.

"Well, uh..." Sonic scratched the back of his head. "I was just lookin' out for you."

"You really didn't think I could do it by myself did you?"

"Alright maybe I didn't. But what's a few months here gonna do? Teach you to rely on metal poles?"

"Look it's a chance for me to get stronger. Plus...." Tails trailed off a bit. "No offense meant at all Sonic, but I'm kinda wanting to hang out with some kids....ya know. My own age."

"Last time you tried that you nearly had your tails pulled out." Sonic noted.

"Maybe not everyone's gonna pass judgment on the number of tails I have." The fox sat down on a foot rest. "Yeah, people are roughly equivalent to scum growing behind a refrigerator. But if that Sora girl can be a little accepting there has to be others right?"

"Tails, we're not looking at a few days here, we're talking 9 months."

"What? You can't handle 9 months of villany by yourself?" Tails smirked.

"Well...yes. But it's just gonna be as boring as hell without anybody to talk to most of the time."

"No more disscousions about Adams' use of symbolism." Tails pointed out.

"Because both the question and the answer cannot be known at the same time in any universe, one must have one or the other." Sonic repeated from memory. "God, I'm gonna miss the stuff I don't understand. You really want to stay that badly?"

Choices you can make affect everyone in the world, not just you, not just an inside circle. Every yes or no can change the direction of the earth.

None of that was going through Tails' head as he simply nodded. Nor did the full weight of what he had changed, and what he was about to be thrown into hit him either. Besides direct foreshadowing is a lame technique anyway.

Tails waved goodbye and walked back with Brent to the Academy.

"I still don't get why he didn't just let me bauble him home." Brent shook his head.

Tails smiled "Yeah, right. Like he's not going to try and break one of his own records."

"I'll never get it. Never."

"Relax, it's one of the things he does best. Sonic may be a bit over-inflated but he's a good guy."

"Classes start officially tomorrow. You want me to bauble you to your room?"

"No, I think I'm gonna stay around a bit longer. The room number was 62-532 wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Just be sure to get to bed before midnight. You'll be waking up early. And I mean EARLY."

"Okay. Night then."

"Night." Brent baubled himself away from the fox.

Tails put his hands behind his head and slowed his walking pace. Finally he was going to be useful.

Brent walked up the stairs in the main hall to the instructor's rooms. He didn't want to go straight to his door yet, maybe at first get used to his neighbors, eat at the actually civilized Faculty Cafeteria, and maybe pop in to see some old friends. He didn't have to wait long for one to pop up. "Sharpear? It's been a while."

"Brent? Ha! I thought it was just a rumor you were coming back. It's nice to see ya again." The canine slapped him on the back, knocking all the air out of the cat.

"You....haven't....changed...a...bit." Brent smiled through the pain in his back.

"You haven't either, except for that funky hat." Sharpear smiled again and then it faded a bit. "Uh...That whole stuffing your Ka Staff up your nose thing is behind us now isn't it?"

Brent made a mental note to sharpen his claws.

"Completely and utterly forgotten!" The cat gave a fake smile again.

He walked on noting that things were just as chaotic here as they were in the good old student's dorms.

Hearing a loud explosion, Brent shook his head. "Slak...." He mumbled to himself and shivered in fear thinking of the rat. Well he wasn't going anywhere remotely near that room for a while. He walked into the Faculty Cafeteria and much to his relief noted there was no food being slung around. Of course at this time of night even the no man's land that was the Student's Cafeteria would be quiet so he still had a lot to hope for. Seeing that Salah was sitting by herself reading a book, Brent sat down next to her.

"Surprised you're up this late." Salah said not taking her eyes off the book.

"Well, I thought I should remind myself of everything before bed."

She put the book down.

"I hear their going to make you a part-time Primary Educator."

"Yeah....so?"

"So you've been trying to avoid that very thing haven't you? Don't tell me you just gave up."

"It was the only way they'd let Tails in."

"So tell me? Are you just honoring Michael's memory by taking on an apprentice?"

"This has nothing to do with Michael-Ka! I mean, Michael."

"But it also doesn't have everything to do with one, Miles Prower does it? You're just trying to live up to what you thought Michael was."

"I told you this has nothing to do with him."

"Well, I've got news for you, you are NOT going to give up on that kid got it?"

"Salah? What are you talking about?"

"I'm just making sure you don't run away again."

"You just love tearing me down don't you?"

"Can't you take anything seriously?!" Salah picked up her book and left the table.

"Eterna?" He tried calling after her as she left.

He sucked up his pride.

"Snobgirl?" _(Look, they have tradeoff insulting nicknames. How...expected.)_

She stopped.

"You can't appeal to me with memories. Never call me that again." She said walking out in a hurry.

"Tails? Hey Tails!! C'mon Prower it's time to go!"

"Wh-what time is it?"

"Time to get up!!"

Tails rolled over and looked at the clock. "It's 3 AM!!!"

"Live with it, I'm bushed too."

Tails reluctantly got up, got dressed and trudged his way to the training grounds with Brent who was dragging his paws the whole way.

Brilliant scheduling, Tails thought and laughed to himself.. He looked and sure enough saw that Brent's eyes were bloodshot and had bags under them. He must not have slept well.....Tails' mind snapped him back to reality as they went outside to the training grounds.

Brent tossed a training staff to him and got his own Ka Staff.

"Ready? Let's start out with something easy. Battle patterns. It's not really all that hard, you just have to step and fight in a bit of rhythm. You have to work your way up through the numbers right now though, I don't think a jumping pattern is good for you yet. You understand any of this?"

Tails nodded totally focused. He didn't want to make a bad impression on his first day.

"Alright just keep things rhythmic and...." The two threw the staffs together.

"1..2...1..2..3...4...1...2..2..1..1..2..1...2..3....4" Brent counted off as each hit gave out a different melodious tone as metal met metal.

Though the pattern was slow and easily paced, Tails noticed there was absolutely no rythym behind it.

They continued this half-hearted exercise for 20 minutes, until Brent started to pick things up a bit.

"1....2...1...2...1...2...3...1...1...1..2...1..2..." That was better, you had to focus a lot more, but you could sense a quicker pace."

"Sorry about all that. I'm a little out of it." Brent shook his head. "Okay, now for the hard part...technique practice. That move I hit you with in the electronics store hit you from the left, but notice I was swinging to the right." (_Although it could be the other way around cause I'm too lazy to look._)

Tails nodded. "How'd you get it to do that anyway?"

"Drive. A little 3 second technique that makes the staff move a little faster than usual. It's used on virtually every tech."

"So it's sorta like a base point?"

"I guess that's a good way of describing it. It's simple, watch." Brent made some movements with the staff.

Tails copied them.

"Right." Brent nodded.

They both entered Drive again.

"So try that tech. Swing your staff from side to side as quick as you can."

Tails did so and felt like his arms were going to fall off.

"Good, now do it again but this time stop halfway and focus everything you got into making it go the other direction."

Tails swung it to the left and tried to pull it back but the sheer force of the blow knocked him over.

"It's not bad. You just need to do a little work on it...." Brent assured him

Tails tried it again knocking himself back over and over, although not as far, or as hard, as the first time.

Okay you need a lot of work on it." Brent sighed. "Last 15 minutes are....."

"Free Attack" Salah whispered to herself watching the two train. He was trying so hard to be like Michael and he was doing a clumsy job of it. He lacked all of the wolf's style and finesse in training. He had to do things his own way or this was going to be a disaster. Salah quietly used a bauble and went back to her room. She was right. He was just trying to work off the guilt.

He was going to blow it. It was all too obvious.

==========

Retrospective

==========

The training scene makes little sense I know, but it's possible to see it happen in your mind's eye if you take every line in. Don't ask me about Drive again, It's something about making the staff reach the right speed, I'm confused too.

What's in a name? I'm not changing Sora's. I know what it's used in...and I'm not changing it. Salah's is a cheap ripoff too, considering how _awful_ I am at naming things. Seriosly I am. Slak? Sharpear? What's with the letter S anyway? Hey, later on you get an otter named Tyson. Original huh?

I know it seems like everyone's a virtual stereotype right now, but it's more or less a good launching point for development of character.

Besides, sometomes a stereotype can be the perfect mask.

Aw, dear God I talk a lot. And I have way too many animals. And too many fancharacters. But the idea is taking one character and putting him in an entirely different setting

And in case you're wondering about Adams, in _The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy_ the answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything is revealed to be "42" People weren't very happy with this answer until they realize they don't know what the question is. It turns out to be. "What is six times nine?"

Figure it out yourself. I'm getting something to eat.


	3. The Standard Two Guys and One Girl group

"All right that's it for now." Brent said completely exhausted putting down his Ka-Staff.

Tails didn't get it. He was still up for an extra hour or so of training.

"Ummm....That's it?"

"It's been an hour."

"Big whoop. C'mon can't you do anything better?"

"Not this early.....I'm gonna go get some rest. You should....I don't know get some breakfast....... or something." Brent yawned and baubled back to his room.

Tails just shrugged. An hour did seem like a long time anyway, besides didn't cats sleep like 12 hours a day?

Another bauble appeared to reveal Salah.

"Oh, um hi Salah-Ka." Out of pure instinct and half sarcasm a hand flew up to his head in salute.

"Ha ha." Salah mumbled flatly. "I'm just here to finish things."

"....Is something wrong with Brent?"

"Try again."

"I mean Brent-Ka?" Tails said scratching the back of his head.

Salah looked depressed. "Yeah. He's trying to live up to his memories." she mumbled.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh nothing. He's just tired. Not used to the schedule." She explained. "Did you go over Technique Practice?"

Tails nodded.

"All right, we'll try that again with the Heavy Swing."

They both entered Drive and kept their staffs at that momentum.

"This is a slow move but it's pathetically simple and strong. Just swing until you can barely control the momentum."

Tails did so and once more his arms felt like lead. This staff crap was murder.

"Now all you have to do is make contact with my Ka Staff."

Tails closed his eyes and forced the staff down. A loud ring confirmed he had done things right.

"That was easier than most techniques I've practiced." Tails smiled. "I mean considering I've only known one."

"That's because you're not learning techniques that are suited to students who've been here a while, like that Mirage Swing."

"Wait a minute, how did you know we were practicing with that?"

"I watched for a little bit....only a little bit." Salah cleared her throat. "Right. We should continue with those battle patterns for an hour." She said thinking of the easiest form of training.

They both swung their staffs into attack stance and Salah began the pattern.

"1....2...3...4...1...2...3.....4" She said trying to make it difficult for him with the pattern.

No such luck he had blocked every attack easily. Uppity kid. She decided to step things up a bit. "1..2...1...2...1..2..3...4...1...2...3....1...2.." They practiced under various patterns for what seemed like wasteable, forgettable time until the sun actually started to show.

"That wasn't half bad!" Salah smiled at him. Crayshen won't do a thing with this kid, she thought in her mind but maybe if he gets a halfway decent teacher....

"Thanks, it was easy!" Tails smiled and put his staff away. "Umm....about Brent-Ka...?"

"What about him?"

"When you saw us training, did you see him....not focusing?"

"Yeah."

"What's wrong? If he's supposedly so evil and strong and crap, why was he so pathetic?." Tails asked.

"He's never trained anybody before. It's his first day too." Salah pointed out. You should go get some breakfast or...something." She said baubling away.

"But I don't know how to get to the cafeteria from here!" Tails yelled but it was no use.

Some of the other students who had come out to train looked at him.

"The main hall's down that way and to the right." One of the students called to him.

"Th-thanks!" Tails rushed off in that direction.

He was greeted with a large bowl of some kind of food in the face. "I didn't oatmeal was supposed to be black." he said to himself wiping it off and throwing himself onto the safety of the floor.

"Tails? Over here it's safe." A voice called out to him. It was Sora.

Tails crawled over to one of the tables in the corner and got up.

"Morning Sora." He greeted her sitting down.

"Morning. Have you met Craig yet?" She gestured to the male rabbit sitting next to her.

It was a very short rabbit. Not much distinguishing him out for a crowd and Tails could swear he'd passed this guy nearly a million times in his life. Of course no such thing had happened. He just appeared to be one of those people.

"Nice to meet you man." Tails shook his paw.

"It's especially nice to meet a student of Brent-Ka." The tiny rabbit said smiling.

Sora thwacked him with her staff.

"Thanks for keeping a secret!" She turned over to Tails "Uh, sorry?"

"That's okay. Brent says he doesn't need to hide out anymore. They made him a Primary Educator." Tails grinned. "Besides you don't want to be guilty of guilt."

"Bregman. I'm impressed." Craig shrugged.

"You know much philosophy?"

"Bergman was a director not a philosopher. I just watch a lot of TV."

"Stop it, it's bad for you" Sora thwacked him with her staff again._ (And It doesn't lighten up from here)_

"Is that just some sort of popular thing to do around here?" Tails laughed.

"Don't worry I have a much bigger punishment planned for him. Go get us some food." She laughed. "I'll take whatever godforsaken thing that black stuff is, and...what about you Tails?

"I guess I'll take it too."

"All right two bowls of black stuff."

Craig got up and started running to the service counter being hit with food all the way.

"I noticed no one's throwing food at us over here." Tails looked around.

"This is the one table safe from the hell that is and forever shall be the cafeteria." She said seriously. "No one else seems to have figured that out yet so we should be fine. When are you training with Brent-Ka?"

"We're done already."

"Already?! It's 5:45! "

"We started at 3:00."

"YOU TRAINED FOR 2 HOURS STRAIGHT?!"

"Uh...yeah." Tails was a bit embarrassed by how loud she had said that.

Sora seemed to notice that nearly everyone was looking at him.

"Oh crap, I did it again..." She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry. I'm a bit of a loudmouth aren't I?"

"It wasn't that loud." Tails managed a fake smile. Right now he wanted to fling himself to the floor again.

"Yeah, it was and I can tell when someone's faking a compliment." She said frowning.

"Okay it was kind of loud....." Tails gave in. "But I don't mind, really...."

Craig came back covered in an array of what passed for food in the academy, his tiny stature hadn't helped at all.

"Black stuff for you, and black stuff for you." He slid the bowls over to his friends and sat down.

"Well when do you guys train?" Tails asked.

"Samuel-Ka usually has me training at 6 PM." Craig said. "Ummm....is this stuff edible?" He poked the mess with a spoon to find, much to his horror, the spoon was stuck.

"Is any of this stuff?" Sora laughed. "Tyson-Ka just seems to let things fall into place. I get the standard 2 hours of training, just at different times."

Tails, seeing what happened with Craig's spoon, started cutting the black stuff with a knife.

"The menu said this was oatmeal...." He finally got a piece and ate it with a fork. "But it tastes like.....ham?!"

"Slak-Ka probably made it.....he's a weird one stay away from him." Craig picked up his spoon and ate it in 3 bites.

"You shouldn't say things like that about Ka Masters!" Sora thwacked him with her staff again. "Anyway Tails what classes are you taking today?"

"Brent-Ka told me I was going to Primary Tech, Style Training and Advanced Placement Math today. Apparently the math part is supposed to help us with controlling the staff in some way but that makes no sense."

"It is hell." Sora took a drink of water and swallowed. "Utter and complete difficulty unleashed on our fragile minds."

"I don't have that much trouble with it."

"Yeah, right you have to be a freakin' genius. I hate math." Sora said the last three like she was going to kill.

Tails blushed a little. "I sorta like it."

Sora smiled. "Sure you do. Just like Trask."

"Yeah, but you're not Trask." Craig leaned back in his chair. "Because you aren't going around claiming your superiority."

"It's only a matter of time...Oh crap! The training schedule! Sorry guys gotta go, or Tyson-Ka'll kill me."

"See ya!" They called after her as she ran for the door, dodging the food.

Tails looked over at Craig. "What'd she mean by that?"

"Nothing, it's just....well....Sora can be a little....odd sometimes." Craig sat back up.

"That makes her virtually the same as everyone I've met in my life. She's sorta cute." Tails put his paws behind his head.

"True, but she's been known to decapitate people with nothing but her own paws and a jelly sandwich."

"How in the world...."

"You haven't met Cume yet have you?"

"Uh, no. Want some more black ham stuff? I'll get it." The fox got up.

"Sounds good. Watch yourself!" The rabbit called after him as he was pelted with a grapefruit.

Brent was not happy.

It had been way too early to wake up, he'd have to reschedule the training exercises with Tails.

And now they expected him to just walk in and teach a class on the purposes of Drive? The Ta'Ka were idiots, plain and simple. Everyone gathered in the classroom and gawked.

"Let's get a few things straight here. Yes I am Brent, no I won't kill anybody, and no I haven't always had the hat."

The students started to relax their faces.

Man, now _this _was life. Kids reeling back in fear of you, having terrible rumors about how strong you are. It's like never having to do an actual day of work and you're already getting paid.

A duck raised his wing.

"Is it true you fought off 300 bandits in less than a minute?"

"No, tha-...oh wait yeah actually that one is true." Brent lied.

"What about the stories that said you and Michael-Ka destroyed a large machine from burning the Academy to the ground?"

"It wasn't THAT large......."

"And about the time you...."

"All right already! Lies! All of them! Let's get on with the stupid class!....Um, sorry....Anyway I'm sure you all now what Drive is. The basic technique from which the others are created. Drive lets you get your staff to a high level of momentum and speed, allowing you to use different attacks outside of battle patterns or free attack. That's where the techs come in. But there are other things about Drive than just a starting point. Many Ka Masters actually use Drive by itself as an attack."

That shocked them a little. Drive seemed about as harmless as barely swinging your staff. Of course it was barely swinging your staff.

Brent pointed to the duck that was talking earlier.

"All right fanboy. You get to be used a visual aid, get up here. No don't bring your staff, we're both gonna use the old things that the school budget lets us have. It's wood, live with it.

The duck did so although he seemed nervous, he was in the attentive pose with the wood staff but he was shaking a bit.

"All right, hold the staff completely horizontal to your body. Whatever you do, DO NOT MOVE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, got it?"

The duck nodded.

"What's your name anyway?"

"Cume."

"Alright Cume, suck it up. It isn't going to be that bad. After all I'm not some psycho." He smirked remembering what Sora had said about him.

Brent began the basic movements for Drive.

"Now this is very important so pay attention. When your staff, like this spare one I'm holding, just about gets to Drive momentum simply thrust it out and use a Heavy Swing, all the while still using the beginning Drive movements. Like.....this!"

He lashed out at Cume.

With a loud cracking sound mixed with a ring the two staffs nearly exploded sending bits of old wood flying. Everyone shielded their eyes and then looked back up.

"That's the one downside of using Drive as an attack, it puts too much pressure on the staff and the target. Of course that's not half of what it really can do, and unfortunately unless Cume here wants to be killed, I can't show you. Uh, go and sit down."

Cume still shook up by the whole thing sat down in his seat and put his head down.

Man, kids were easy to impress. That was a basic tech and they were actually shocked by it? Was he ever like this?!

"All right now for the boring stuff, properties of Drive...."

Everyone moaned.

"Yeah, yeah I know you've all heard it before so let's get on with it....."

He started a long and boring lecture on Drive's history and use as a technique.

If he could just get through this one, he might have some free time left.

It had been 8 straight hours of hell.

Sora was right, the classes were a mess.

The teaching faculty was obviously not very diversified. For some reason it was usually the same 5 teachers over and over again. Sharpear, Salah, Brent, some guy named Tyson, and an older guy named Gabriel. In effect the academy was run by kids. And you'd think it'd be more interesting than it was.

Tails sighed packing up his things and heading to his room, at least now maybe he could catch a nap or something.

No such luck, as soon as he was at the door....

"Hey, watch out!"

"Craig?! Oh gosh I didn't step on you or anything did I?" He smiled.

"Very funny. I'm not that short." the rabbit said trying to stretch himself out.

"I know, I'm sorry Craig. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Geez, you're apologetic aren't you?" Craig smiled back. "Anyway Sora and I were about to go watch a battle in the third sparring square. You wanna come?"

"Sure!" The grogginess he was feeling wore off fast.

The two began walking towards the training grounds.

"Brent-Ka hasn't taught you anything cool yet has he?"

"He..uh...tried." Tails' ears fell thinking about how awful he did with the Mirage Swing.

Craig saw this and decided to change the subject.

"Your classes weren't that bad were they?"

"Na, they were a breeze even if it does seem like the day went on forever."

"Well at least when the weekend comes we can all get a break from this mess."

"Except for training."

"Don't try to ruin it!" Craig said angrily.

"Sorry.....well what is there to do here when we have free time?"

"Right now? Not much, but there's a little plaza downstairs open to all of us on the weekends. It's still not much though. Just a crowded movie theater and a very slow restaurant. Of course the food there's much better."

"Of course. How else would you not starve to death?"

"I'm worried. Slak-Ka's cooking again. He'll try to blow up the kitchen if we're lucky."

"Wait a minute. This guy blows things up?"

"It's his hobby. He's a pyro taken to the next level. Don't worry, there only very small explosions."

"Yeah but still that's disturbing."

"Um....I've been meaning to ask you...why do you have two tails?"

"I don't know. I was born that way I guess."

"Don't they get in the way a bit?"

"No. Not at all. I couldn't live without 'em actually."

"What? Why?"

"Ummm....I like...them?" Tails lied.

He didn't want anyone to know he could fly. He just wanted to be a regular kid here, never mind the tails.

"Whatever."

"What's the big deal about these battle things anyway?"

"The Ka Masters like to put on a show of how great they are for their students....and just so you know

Brent-Ka's supposed to be in one today."

"Well I'm sure he's decently strong and all but..."

"But what?"

"I've never really seen him do anything out of the ordinary before."

"Than I guess you haven't heard the story about Cume yet."

"Actually I did. I have a hard time believing that Brent-Ka broke both of his wings and threw him out a 3-story window."

"Why?"

"I saw Cume at lunch talking about it."

"Ah. Well that kills that rumor."

By now the two had reached the training grounds.

"Hey Craig! Hey Tails!" Sora called out to them.

"Hi Sora." Tails sat on one of the benches looking at the impromptu ring set up. "Is Brent-Ka really supposed to be in this?"

"Yep. I've already checked out the charts. Umm...He's fighting with Tyson-Ka."

"You're kidding!" Craig laughed. "This should be good. Tyson-Ka has the record for fewest losses."

"That's him alright!" Sora said with pride.

"Wait a minute isn't Tyson-Ka YOUR master?" Tails asked.

"Yep!" Sora smiled.

"Oh..." He said without much enthusiasm. This whole thing was going to be a little awkward.

Brent twirled his staff around a bit

"Tyson, huh?"

"Yeah." Salah nodded. "Try not to do so badly out there. You wouldn't want to get your reputation shot."

"Well, it'll probably be close. Tyson was always a heavy hitter. Should be a good fight all in all. Speaking of which I better get down there. Don't wanna be late." Brent bolted off for the training grounds.

Salah sighed. He's an outright idiot, she thought grimly.

The two stepped out into the ring.

"Well, Tyson I didn't expect we'd see each other like this." Brent readied himself in attack pose.

The otter smiled. "Just try to survive long enough, put on a good show for the kids out there!"

The signal was given and the fight began.

Tyson immediately entered Drive.

"That won't help you much." Brent warned and kept his staff still.

"Yeah? Well maybe this will!" Tyson swung his staff at Brent.

Brent blocked it from the front and then put the staff over his head blocking another shot. He quickly moved a step over to the right, still holding the staff above him blocking another attempt and another.

"Raining Swing. Not bad." Brent smiled and entered Drive. "Now take this!" he said swinging at the otter's torso. (_BATTLE CRY! I don't know I felt like saying it)_

Tyson sighed and blocked the shot from hitting his face. "Mirage Swing? You can do better than that."

"All right, but if only if you want to see it." Brent entered Drive again and swung for the otter's head.

"Oh come on, that's the same thing as-...ahhh!" Tyson felt pain on all the sides of his body.

"4-Way Mirage Swing." Brent grinned darkly.

Tyson still struggling to stand up, entered Drive and prepared a Heavy Swing. Brent easily blocked it. Smiling, Tyson flipped the staff down on the other, hitting Brent hard in the stomach.

By now the two had were nearly at the point of exhaustion.

"Guess I better end this right." Brent entered Drive.

"Get serious. I know what you're planning."

"But can you block it?" Brent continued the movements for Drive even though his staff was at the right momentum.

"Now you're just wasting time."

"Really?" Brent continued the Drive pattern.

Tyson sighed and rushed towards him staff ready to strike.

Brent stopped the motions, flipped the staff horizontally and shoved it into Tyson's chest.

"C'mon Tyson-Ka! Don't let him beat you!" Sora yelled at the otter.

"Oh come on he's finished. After that move Brent-Ka made, he won't be fighting for a while." Craig looked still stunned by what happened. "What's wrong Tails? Shouldn't you be cheering for Brent-Ka or something?"

Tails looked a little worried. "Well yeah, but..." He gestured to Sora.

"I get what you mean. I wouldn't want her on my bad side either." Craig smiled.

"Too late." Sora said whacking him hard with her training staff knocking causing to him to lose consciousness. She looked over at Tails. "And YOU'RE next."

"What? What did I do?"

"I don't know!" Sora thwacked him with her staff also.

"The....oatmeal.....gets..better...after...the...33rd...helping." He said falling the same way as Craig.

"And you deserved that too!" The vixen said getting down from the stands.

Brent limped back with Tyson to the Faculty Cafeteria.

"That whole "Radical Drive" thing was pretty neat." Tyson tried to smile.

"Yeah, well so was that Heavy Swing straight into my gut." Brent tried to laugh but almost threw up.

A bauble containing Salah appeared.

"You two nearly killed each other! How could you be so stupid?!" She raged.

"Sorry ma'am" The two said in unison.

"I never ever want to see you try to hurt each other like that again got it?"

"Yes ma'am." They said at the same time again.

"I'm not getting a single word through to you am I?"

"No ma'am."

"Why do I even bother?" Salah baubled herself away.

"Well that was actually scarier than the fight." Brent gave a weak smile.

"It's a good thing we didn't get her mad." Tyson tried the same.

"Well I know it's kind of late to ask now, but how ya been Tyson?"

"Better."

"I mean for the past 3 years."

"Let me think, I've got a loudmouth, hotheaded girl for a student, Slak tries to blow me up every other week, and I haven't got a day off in months. I've been better."

"Well you just started training Sora right? How were your other students?"

"What other students? I popped in one day to say hi to everybody and the Ta'Ka just say 'Here's an apprentice.'"

"Wow, that sucks."

"Well what have you been doing?"

"Practicing." Brent sat down at a table.

"I can tell." Tyson did the same. "The same thing happened to you right? I mean they forced you to take a kid on right?"

"Sorry. I chose my apprentice."

"Yeah right I believe that."

"I'm serious Tyson."

"So you vanish for 3 years without so much as a goodbye, find a kid, bring him here and ask if you can train him?"

"Oh boy, I can see where this is going." Brent got up from the table.

"What are you leaving for 10 years this time?!"

"That does it! I'm going to bed!" Brent baubled himself to his room.

"Jerk." Tyson leaned back in the chair.

----------

RETROSPECTIVE

Because without it, I'd be a withering pile of apolgizing goo.

-----------

Don't think this means Brent's particually strong. He's not a weakling. Just....decent. That and....I don't know they virtually tied anyway.

So we meet Craig, (who was concieved before Sonic Advance 2 thank you very much), who's one of those kids you pass in the hall but don't really know. You know that one kid that's always there but that's it. He's just...there. I was orginally going to make him a tad philisophical like Tails, but regular non-descript kids don't nesecarily quote Chesterton and Nietzsche. At least I think not. Can any of you normal kids validate this?

I fixed the transition scenes! No more "what the heck's going on" for me or you...until we reach the actual plot...well I'm out of ideas. I'll just be leaving now.


	4. A Hike in the Woods

Case in point this chapter is short compared to the others. It's also where things get a bit episodic as their suddenly in the woods. I don't know, I was bored when I wrote this.

"Tell me again why we're out here in the middle of the night?" Tails yawned.

"It's an assignment. Live with it, I'm not exactly pleased myself." The rat yawned. "One more complaint out of any of you and I'll shove a bomb down your throats."

"Why of all people was he assigned to us?" Craig whispered to Tails.

"He volunteered."

"So the Ta'Ka let him take 20 students out in the woods with all those bombs in his backpack?"

"You said yourself they only hurt a little bit."

"Yeah, but Slak-Ka is still a nutcase."

"Shame on you talking about Ka Masters like that!" A voice behind them said.

"Oh crud!" Craig covered his head just in time as the blow came.

"Give him a break Sora we're still trying to figure out why you did that on the bleachers." Tails helped the tiny rabbit up.

"Ah, that fight was rigged. Tyson-Ka could have kept going."

"All the same, we never did anything at all! Why couldn't you go hit Brent-Ka?"

"Because you two were the closest things to hit."

"So...?"

"So what? I took my anger out on you that's all."

"Yeah, but remember when you said you blabbed about Brent-Ka coming back, well you..."

"Apologized? That was one thing, and the fight was another." Sora swung her staff around a bit. "So unless you'd like to be knocked out again, don't prod for me to hang my head this time."

"Oh come on Sora, drop the tough girl act." Craig said.

"I'm just trying to show the others that at least one of us three aren't total losers. Stay out of my way. " Sora fell back in line.

"Still think she's cute?" The rabbit smiled at Tails a bit.

"That pretty much crossed her off my list. I swear, she going around acting like she has to prove herself in everything." Tails sighed.

"She does have to prove herself in everything. She's a little touchy."

"So what'd we touch?" Tails asked and than wondered why in the world he would say something so stupid.

"Would you believe Tyson-Ka is also one of the foremost Ka Masters?" Craig asked.

"Yeah, that battle ended in a basic tie."

"That's not exactly how everyone else remembers it....they all think Brent-Ka nearly killed Tyson-Ka."

"He almost did."

"Yeah, but they also don't remember about Tyson-Ka nearly killing Brent-Ka. Sometimes people just believe want they want to believe."

"Oh...but still that's no reason for her to take it out on us!"

"She has a little too much pride in Tyson-Ka for her own good. She really believes that he can't be defeated in a thousand years."

"Weird."

"All right everyone be quiet..." Slak said to no avail. "I said.....BE QUIET!" He set off a small bomb.

Everyone quickly shut up.

"As you know one of the main functions of the Ka-Masters is to keep peace so here's the deal. In this exercise there are 5 enemies each cunning and dangerous. The theory is, all of you have been assigned to this mission so you will all need to work together. Your objective is to discover the identity of all 5 of your enemies and capture at least 2 of them. You'll fail if **all** of you are captured. Don't let anyone wander off the beaten path, there are real dangers out there. You guys got all that?" The rat asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good, because I'm going back to the academy. Contact me when and only when you have both enemies in your possession." Slak babubled away.

There was a period of silence.

A voice spoke up. "So, ummm...what now?" It was Dane, a ferret and one of the more popular kids.

"I don't know. I guess we need a leader or something." Another voice said.

"Or something!" Sora yelled a little bit loud.

"Geez, Sora are you trying to get us all to fail?"

"Sorry. But I can handle all this. The most obvious thing to do would be to...."

"Split up?" Everyone said in unison.

"Uh....yeah."

Dane spoke up again. "Good, than you can be part of the first group the other freaks."

"Hey, I'm the leader remember?"

"No, you just made a good point. Now here's how everything should work...." The ferret sent her over to the others.

Sora walked over to Tails and Craig.

"Can you believe that guy, trying to hog the spotlight?" She muttered.

The two looked at her coldly.

"Oh boy. All right I'm sorry already, I guess all I am is a jerk." Sora sweatdropped.

"You've got that right Lateri." Craig said angrily.

"Look, guys I'm really, really sorry."

"Really?" Tails asked.

"Really."

"Really really?"

"Oh now you're just being stupid."

"That's okay Sora. I forgive you." Tails chuckled.

"And even though that staff hurts like hell, I guess I do too." Craig smiled.

"Ummm...so what now?"

The group realized they were alone.

"Those jerks!" Craig was angry. "They left us out of planning solely to spite us!"

"That's no problem. I can just fl-..." Tails stopped remembering they didn't know.

"Fl what?"

"Filet them when we get home....gosh I'm mad!" Tails hoped they'd buy it.

"Weird. Anyway there's only three of us."

"Aha! Correction!" Tails pulled some things out of his backpack. "4 of us!"

"What in the world IS that thing?" Sora asked.

"It's a mini-bot. I can program it to roam the forest while we look ourselves." Tails explained.

"And where'd ya get that from?" Craig asked.

"Um....I kind of made it." Tails scratched the back of his head.

"Cool." Sora said. "Well let's get on with the search. Start that thing up."

Tails pressed a button on his remote control only to see the mini-bot fly, twirl in the air a bit and finally explode magnificently turning the main body into little more than charcoal.

Another long period of silence passed.

"Let's...just try to look ourselves." Tails said backing away from the wreckage.

"Riiiight." Sora and Craig said in unison joining him.

---

"See anything Sharpear?" Salah asked the otter.

"No, it looks like they haven't even been this way yet."

"Good, we should be able to ambush them by the....Brent what in the world are you doing?!"

"Eating." The cat fanned the flames and continued to cook the fish.

"You idiot! They'll see the smoke."

"Good. Then they'll pass the stupid test."

'What'ya mean by that? We're supposed to be challenging them!"

"Do you remember when our Ka Group went out on this exercise?"

"Yeah....although I'd like to forget." Salah shivered a bit. "But bad memories are no reason to blow a test."

"Well what if something like that happens again?"

"Oh come on! There's no chance that 3 mortal enemies would go off together...........again."

"Right but what about 3 good friends? I don't want to get Tails, Sora, or Craig in trouble."

"Neither do I but you've got to have a little faith in them."

"All right." Brent poured a bucket of water of the fire. "There goes dinner."

"Right. Sam, you stay here and keep a look out. Keep an eye out and see if there's any trouble. Brent, you and I will meet with Kura and Tyson then we'll take the kids with us."

"Although you can forget about eating..." Brent got up from the fire and baubled away with Salah.

---

"I'm not going over that." Sora said. "It could fall."

It was all too familiar. Rotten log, large ravine.

Tails sighed. "Relax. Just step lightly. Craig got past it didn't he?"

"Craig's the size of a crab!"

"I am not!" They heard a shout from across the ravine.

"A crab who can't keep his big ears out of a conversation!" Sora yelled back putting her right footpaw on the log. "No, this thing is gonna break."

"Let it." Tails shrugged.

"What?"

"Just let it break. Don't worry."

"And I should trust you...why?" Sora had an odd look on her face.

"C'mon. Just get on it."

"Fine." Sora said smugly stepping on the log. "But if this is some lame----"

And it broke.

3 seconds later Sora looked up to see the ground moving below her.

"Oh great. I'm dead."

"Ummm...not yet." A voice came from above.

"Tails, why are you...?" Sora looked up. "Oh." Her face got white. "Ohhhh......would...you..mind....putting...me...down?"

Tails put her down on the other side of the ravine.

"Thank you." Sora smiled and fainted.

---

"Sora?" A single question echoed a little way's from the cloaked figure's feild of hearing.

"You just had to surprise us with that little flying thing didn't you?" Another voice rang out.

"I...guess I didn't really think things through, huh? So how long's she gonna be like this?"

"I don't know. We could just poke her with a stick until she wakes up."

"Craig, your soloution to half our problems tonight has been 'poke it with a stick.' That only got us chased by hornets, and invoked the wrath of Slak-Ka."

"Poke me and you'll lose your ears." A new femnine voice came into play.

The figure nodded at least Lateri was safe.

Now he only had one thing on his mind.

Being a mysterious figure was so _awesome_.

---

"Well now that we know you can fly, why not just look over the top of the forest and find the others?" Sora asked.

"Because everyone else would see me! I'm already enough of a freak just looking like this!" Tails yelled. "You saw how everyone else just went by themselves! There was no dividing into groups, they just left us!"

"Calm down Tails you're going to pop something." Sora smiled.

"Oh that was cute, that was REALLY just too darn cute wasn't it?!" Tails vented.

"Okay, now you're making ME angry bucko!" Sora jumped up.

"Oh I'm sorry did I DO NOTHING AT ALL AGAIN?! I MUST BE ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!"

"That's it! You're gonna die!" Sora got her staff out and started it swinging it mercilessly at the two tailed fox.

"WOULD YOU TWO STOP IT?!" Craig shouted. "Sora, if Tails is angry leave him alone, and Tails stop brushing Sora off she was just trying to help."

The two foxes stopped fighting.

"Uhhh...I'm sorry about all that." Tails scratched his head.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't have prodded you." Sora muttered.

"There. Now that we've that we got THAT over with, Tails do you think you could fly so that nobody would see you?"

"I guess a quick peek at the treetops wouldn't hurt anything." Tails spun his tails around a bit, flew up and came back down.

"Nothing....just a lot of trees."

"Great." Sora sat down. "What now?"

"They told us to bring our sleeping bags didn't they?" Craig said.

"Well yeah, but..."

"C'mon we can't do any good now. We might as well wait until morring."

They all unrolled their sleeping bags.

"This sucks." Sora said. "The grounds uneven."

"Be quiet!" Craig said.

"........I don't know if I can fall asleep still wearing my day clothes."

"BE QUIET!" Craig said again.

"..........Maybe we should have something to eat first."

"Sora?"

"What Craig?"

"Shut up."

Tails sighed. This was going to be a long night.

=====

RETROSPECTIVE

Short chapters are the devil's playground

======

That was only a measly 4 pages. I was in a short chaptered mood when I wrote this. I don't know, it was 6 months ago give me a break.

Yeah they're suddenly in the woods, that's called a "plot device." But I've learned not to try and force situations on these guys, they have their own ways of dealing with things. Of course that means that most of my plot, no matter how much genetic enginereing I try to throw in, character devlopment takes more priority. (And yes I do have an actual overarching plot, I'm just not there yet) --And wont' be for a few more chapters--

No the cloaked guy isn't Brent, though through elimination it's kinda easy to tell who it might be.

Where was I?

I was going to say something witty and meaningful here but it's apparently slipped my mind.

Well there's 15 minutes of your life wasted Brent. Great job.


	5. Catching Up

Salah woke up.

"Are you making ANOTHER fire?"

"We've got to eat sometime." Brent said still fanning the flames.

"Make it quick than, I don't want them seeing us."

"In that case I hope you like sushi."

"Where's Sharpear and Kura?"

"Sharpear said he was going out to spy on the students, Kura wouldn't shut up so I sent her to get some water."

"They're all in one big group aren't they?"

"Yeah, did they wake you up too? I got a good look at everyone and...."

"Let me guess, no Craig, Sora or Tails right?"

"Right."

" Those stupid idiots, casting them out like that! Our Ka Group was never like that."

"Yes it was! What about you running around all the time calling me 'Fatmouth'? Or the fact Sharpear was a jerk, or Slak...well that pretty much gets it right there."

"YOU were the one getting in everybody's way!"

"Well YOU were the one who was stuck up!"

"No I wasn't Fatmouth!"

"Were too Snobgirl!"

They both collapsed laughing.

"Geez, we were jerks!" Brent said.

"We? I was perfectly behaved." Salah teased.

"Oh yeah, like that time when you nearly killed me for taking your Ka-Staff?"

"You just can't admit you got beat up by a girl."

"Oh shut up." Brent said laughing even harder now.

"No, no please continue this is very entertaining." A familiar voice giggled.

"Don't even get me started on you Kura." Salah smirked.

The mouse stepped forward carrying a bucket of water.

"Has Sharpear come back yet?" Kura asked putting the bucket down.

"No, he won't have any trouble finding most of the students. They're all traveling in one big group save 3 of them." Salah shook her head. "Morons. They're going to get captured all at once."

"Actually it's not that bad. As long as they know Tails and the others are out there they have a chance to pass. They figure now they can just amble through the woods." Brent said putting the fire out.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Kura asked.

"No, unfortunately it's not." Brent let his claws out and started cutting the fish.

"That's disgusting Brent, use a knife!" Salah gagged.

"Do you see a knife anywhere? Don't worry their clean." Brent continued to divide up the fish.

"Oh no, now that you mentioned it I'm REALLY not worried."

"Look do you want to eat or not?"

"All right, but I'm washing my share first. What about you Kura? Kura? Oh not again!" Salah looked around for her friend.

"You know she'll show up sooner or later." Brent took his share over to a boulder. "She'll be fine she took her share of the fish with her."

Salah rinsed her part of this fish in the bucket. "Well, where'd you get it?"

"Caught it while we were setting up this whole thing."

"That quickly?"

"Fish are impatient."

"I suppose you had to eat something out there...."

"It's not like I lived on fish!"

"Oh really? I saw you eat over 40 helpings of Slak's cooking. That means you're desperate for any kind of food."

"It's actually not that bad as long as you keep your expectations low."

"Believe me, they can't get any lower.....You heard from Tyson yet?"

"No. Wonder where he is."

"He's probably in that stupid "traveler" costume again." Salah rolled her eyes.

"It's been done." Brent took a bite of his fish.

"Yeah..." Salah slowly ate her share.

"There you two are! Where's Kura?" Sharpear walked by.

"Wherever she usually is. Nowhere." Salah said.

"Can't we just leave the kids alone?" Brent sighed.

"........You know the Ta'Ka won't allow that." Sharpear said.

"The Ta'Ka can stuff their Ka Staffs up their noses." Brent gave Sharpear a serious look.

"......" Sharpear tried to smile. "Anyway, the students are headed north. You want to cut 'em off?"

"I guess now is as good a time as ever." Brent threw a cloak over him and picked up a small cutlass. "This looks bandit-like doesn't it?"

"Lose the hat." Salah said donning her cloak.

Brent took off his bubba hat and left it on a boulder.

"Let's go." He said making his voice raspier.

"You call that a threatening voice?!" Sharpear looked over at him.

"Just go already." Salah created a bauble and pushed the 2 through it.

---

The three trudged on.

"Ack! I'm starving!" Craig held his stomach.

"Oh, please one day without breakfast won't kill you." Sora looked at him.

"What about lunch? We'll have a big lunch right?" Craig looked worried.

"Yeah, sure let's march over to the restaurant in front of us! Forget it!" Sora yelled.

"Hungry." Craig rubbed his stomach.

"I thought you weren't one of those sterotypical eat-everything-in-sight rabbits."

"Of course I'm not." Craig's said calmly. "But I'M HUNGRY!!!!"

"Whoa, relax. You're supposed to be the voice of reason remember?" Tails smiled.

"Someone has to make sure you two don't blow up the world." Craig smiled back.

"Well anyway I guess this is an emergency. Sora you did pack some food right?" Tails asked.

"Yep." The vixen got out her backpack and frowned. "At least I thought I did."

"YOU FORGOT THE FOOD?!" Craig yelled.

"....It was Slak-Ka's cooking anyway." Sora put her backpack on again.

"Honestly. You two are amazi-..." Tails stopped in midsentence and pointed.

There were a mouse sitting down watching the world around her.

All 3 of them dropped to the ground.

"That's Kura-Ka." Sora whispered with a tinge of hatefulness. "She's easily distracted."

"Well, at least now we know who the enemy is." Tails said.

"The Ka Masters. Figures." Craig whispered back.

"Well, we need to get her away from the others. They might be close by." Sora noted.

Tails smiled. "Leave that to me. I fixed the bug in the mini-bot last night."

The trio retreated back a few yards.

Tails got out a mini-bot and his remote.

"Here goes...." He said pressing a button.

Craig and Sora flinched.

The mini-bot slowly rose up and floated.

"Told ya I fixed it." Tails grinned.

---

Kura was looking at a bug.

More precisely she had followed the bug from the bluff down to here.

"Well, well well aren't you a slippery little one. Wonder what you are..." She said finally letting it crawl onto her paw.

"Huh? What in the world is that?" She forgot about the bug as she saw a strange orange shape floating in the air.

It started to fly away.

"Oh no you don't!" Kura followed it.

The thing stopped a little bit back in the woods and landed.

"Weird thing....hey wait a minute..." She said picking it up. "This is mechanical."

"Exactly" A voice rang out.

She was ambushed.

---

"One down, one to go!" Sora said tying up Kura with a vine.

"Nyaa! It was pure luck! You here me? Pure luck!" Kura stuck her tongue out at them.

"And a lucky break indeed." Tails smiled. "Here's lunch Craig. A bit of fish."

"All right!" Craig started eating the fish Kura had carried with her.

"I wouldn't eat it like that. Brent cut it with his claws." Kura smiled.

Craig spit it out. "Ack! Water!!"

"Wait a minute, Brent-Ka is in on this?" Tails asked.

"Sharpear, Slak, Brent, Salah and Tyson and me were the ones chosen to lead the exercise." Kura stuck her tongue out again. "But you're already too late. By now they've caught up with the main group. If you 3 show up they'll get you too."

"Not exactly." Sora smiled deviously. "I know for a fact Tyson-Ka prefers scouting duty, which means he's still out there probably alone."

"He TOLD you he liked scouting duty?" Craig asked.

"Actually he told Samuel-Ka that one day in the Faculty Cafeteria."

"What were you doing in the Faculty Cafeteria?" Kura asked her.

"I was just....passing by." Sora stuck her muzzle in the air. "It doesn't matter anyway. Kura-KA." She said the last part a little sarcastically.

"Watch it missy, I'm pretty good friends with your master ya know." Kura looked mad.

This time it was Sora's turn to stick her tongue out. "Right now, you're a prisoner! C'mon guys let's go!"

Tails and Craig stood Kura up on her feet and walked on either side of her.

They had only walked a little while when Kura had a plan.

"You know," She whispered to Tails. "I think the girl's making eyes at your rabbit friend over there." She moved her eyes toward Craig and nodded.

"Don't even think about it. It's none of my business anyway." Tails said flatly.

"C'mon don't they make a cute couple? Sure Craig's a little short....but you have to admit they get along pretty well."

"What are you talking about? She creams him with a staff every three seconds!"

"That's a lot of attention to put on one person."

"I'm not listening! I INVENT THINGS, AND HAVE TWO TAILLLLLLLLS!" Tails covered his ears.

"Tails? Is something wrong?" Sora asked from the front of the line.

"No. Just an annoying prisoner." Tails looked angrily at Kura.

"Just ignore her." Sora continued her over-exaggerated march.

"Sure thing fearless leader!" Tails saluted.

"Aha. Why would a student of Brent's take orders from someone like that? Don't tell me you WANT to follow her orders." Kura started whispering again.

Tails kept a straight face and tried to ignore her.

"I can put two and two together kid. I'm not stupid." Kura smiled at him.

Tails' straight face started to wane a little bit.

A period of silence passed.

"You....don't....actually think she likes Craig do you?" Tails asked Kura quietly.

"I don't know, it looks that way doesn't it?" Kura smiled a much darker smile this time.

Relax Prower, Tails thought to himself, She's just trying to get to you so she can make her escape....but Sora and Craig DO spend a lot of time together....and that whole hitting thing might be.....what?! Why do I even care?! Just focus!

Kura smiled to herself. That was one of the oldest tricks in the book. And it was working....

---

Dane and the others were living it up.

As long as those three idiots were wondering somewhere lost in the woods it didn't even matter if they got captured. They could hang out, eat any number of rations they like and generally throw a party.

"Great move Dane!" One of his friends passed by him in the unruly mob that was the main group.

Dane smiled it had been a great move.

A purple hedgehog came running up to him. _(I ran out of animals okay? Live with it)_ "Some cloaked guys are coming near us!"

"Ah, the enemy. Well the party has to end sometime but we're all going to pass regardless." Dane rolled his eyes.

"You idiot! This was a terrible plan! You realize those 3 have to capture 2 of those guys in order for us to pass?"

"Erek, relax. That freak with the two tails is a student of Brent, the loudmouth is a student of Tyson and the...uh...other guy oh who cares? They'll do fine!"

"Don't you mean their students of Brent-KA and Tyson-KA?"

"Forget the titles! No one's going to whack us over the heads out here!" Dane laughed, and was knocked unconscious from the blow that came.

"No one but me." One of the cloaked figures said. "You have anything to say purple boy?" The creature drew a cutlass.

"N-no sr. I surrender."

"Good. At least one of you has a brain.

Erek smiled and kicked the figure in the gut spiraling the cloak off.

The smile soon faded when he got a good view of who was inside it.

---

Craig and Tails has switched at nighttime. The small rabbit was now guarding Kura.

""You know," She whispered to Craig. "I think the girl's making eyes at your fox friend over there." She moved her eyes toward Tails and nodded.

"Oh shut up! That won't work! Besides it's none of my business!" Craig said.

Kura smiled to herself again. This was all too easy.

"Oh yeah right, can't you see those two getting together?"

"Yeah, if they wouldn't argue so much."

"Well you know what they say. The more two argue the more they get along."

"Be quiet! I'm not listening! I LIKE FOOD! I ATE 20 HELPINGS OF SLAK-KA'S COOKING AND ONLY PUKED TWICE!" Craig folded his ears down to his head.

In the middle of the line a distance away from the mouse and the rabbit, Tails could see exactly what was going on.

"Hey, Sora. Let's stop here for the night."

"Okay, but only if you're sure."

"Positive. It'd be a great place." Tails slunk over to the back and grabbed Craig bringing him forward.

"I know what she's trying to do to you! She tried the same thing on me!" Tails whispered.

"She did? For being unfocused, she sure is organized." Craig said.

"I know. Imagine trying to turn us against each other." Tails rolled his eyes.

"With Sora...." Craig laughed.

There was an awkward silence.

"Ummm....yeah. Good night Craig." Tails laid his sleeping bag out.

"Night Tails." Craig went out a distance and did the same.

---

Dane was being led with the others to a small clearing.

Figures the Ka Masters were the enemy, he thought.

"Don't think for a second your plan worked." Brent said looking at him. "We know where the other 3 in your group are."

Dane didn't say a word.

"Idiot kid. I'll teach you about betraying classmates." Brent got his Ka Staff out.

"Don't hurt him, that's not what this exercise is for." Salah grabbed it out of his hands.

Dane breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't think you're out of it yet DANE." Brent let his claws come out one by one. "There are so many other disciplinary methods." Brent walked up to the front of the line leaving behind a very frightened ferret.

"That was cruel." Salah threw Brent's staff back to him.

"Yeah and leaving the others out to do the dirty work wasn't?" Brent caught the staff.

"I didn't say that. I just don't see the point in threatening a good student."

"Good student? What in the world are you talking about?"

"Dane's doing well in his exercises. He'll make a good Ka Master." Salah continued walking.

"No he won't. No Ka Master would betray somebody."

"Well you did when you ran out on us."

"That was different! I didn't expect you to do all the work while I went out and twiddled my paws!"

"No, YOU did all the work while WE stayed and twiddled our paws. It's nearly as bad."

Brent shook his head. "I told you already...I just needed some time alone."

Salah looked over at him. "That's a complete lie."

"What? What gives you the right to say that? Were you there?"

The wildcat ignored him and kept walking.

Brent sighed. He hoped they'd catch up with the others soon enough.

---

Kura struggled to get out of the vines.

Crap, the kids were right next to her, she'd wake them up if she ran for it.

Kura laid back down on the ground.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. WHY did she follow that stupid bug?!

Sora started to stir.

Oh great the loudmouth was waking up.

Sora got up and went over to Kura.

"Just making sure you're still here." Sora said tightening the vines.

"Hey! That took me 3 hours to get that far." Kura mumbled.

"Good. Than you can take another 3 hours to try again." Sora looked at her angrily.

"For a student of Tyson's you're very disrespectful."

"Bleh." Sora stuck her tongue out. "What would you know about Tyson-Ka anyway?"

"A lot more than you ever will, kid." Kura smiled darkly.

"Do you solely exist to torment me?" Sora walked back to her sleeping bag in a huff.

Kura nodded slowly. So that was it. Tyson had one more fan than he thought.

She continued to try to break the vines.

"Forget it. Craig tied 'em so that even if you manage to break one the rest will tighten even worse." Tails came out of nowhere.

" That's Sharpear's handiwork no doubt." Kura stopped struggling.

"Look, you said Brent-Ka was involved in all of this. Is he going after the main group?"

"Yeah, with Salah and Sharpear, I told you already."

Tails sighed. As long as Salah was there Brent couldn't even scratch Dane.

"Sorry about having to tie you up like this." Tails said.

Kura shook her head. "It's alright, it's just.....no student group has passed the exercise in 4 years. I didn't want to be the one to blow that record."

"Wait a minute, 4 years, than Brent failed this test?" Tails asked a little interested.

"Actually that was a mistake. Brent, Salah and Slak were trapped in a cave, Michael, in one of those stupid   
'traveler' costumes found them and helped them out...and then ambushed them once they caught up with the others."

"Wait a minute you said the 'traveler' is a Ka Master in disguise?"

"Yep. I think Tyson's got it this year. Big whoop. I mean who wouldn't notice a strange shadowy figure on a night like tonight."

"Arghh!" Tails punched the ground. "We could have finished this thing by now! He's probably following us!"

"Not a bad guess kid." A voice said.

"Great. Sora! Craig! We got trouble!" Tails woke the other two.

Tyson stepped out into the clearing.

"Tyson-Ka!" Sora smiled happily.

"Not now Sora. We're gonna take him." Craig smiled.

"Disrespectful little thing aren't you?" Tyson spat at the tiny rabbit.

The students got their training staffs out.

"Well, alright. If you want to get captured it's your choice." Tyson got out his Ka Staff and entered Drive.

Craig started off. He entered Drive and used a Heavy Swing aimed at the chest.

"Too slow." Tyson stepped to the side.

The sheer momentum of the blow knocked Craig down.

"Ha! Haven't even touched you and you're already losing!" Tyson charged towards Sora.

"Uhh...ummm." Sora gave a half-hearted swing.

"What in the world was that?!" Tyson stopped. "If that's the best you can do, than I've been teaching you wrong. When a- arghhh!" Tails whacked Tyson with his staff, knocking him down.

"You're a student of Brent's alright. Impulsive to the end." the otter smiled again picking up his Ka Staff.

Tails stood firm.

"Well, let's see what you can do!" Tyson swung furiously at the fox.

Tails dodged the blows effortlessly.

"Not bad kid. But..."

The blow came down hitting Tails square on the head, knocking him unconscious.

"You have to be aware of everything." Tyson said and than was knocked back down to the ground.

"Exactly." Craig said clutching his training staff. He entered Drive again and this time the Heavy Swing connected.

"Ow. I think you scratched me." Tyson said getting up.

"Way to go Tyson-Ka!" Sora beamed.

"Shut up, Sora! We're supposed to win this remember?!" Craig shouted at her and was knocked back nearly 50 feet by the coming blow.

"And never, NEVER take your eyes off your opponent." Tyson swung his staff to the left, blocking the swing that came. "That was a quick recovery." he said.

Tails smiled. "By the way...."

Tyson immediately felt the impact on his right.

"Ah....crap." he said holding his side. "That was quicker than Brent's. Not bad at all." Tyson fell to his knees.

"Now Craig!" Tails shouted throwing the vines to the rabbit.

Craig quickly tied one of Sharpear's famous knots trapping the otter.

"What?! Don't let them win like that Tyson-Ka!" Sora fumed.

"Sora, SHUT UP!" Craig yelled at her.

"He wasn't even trying!" Sora yelled back.

"So what?! We passed didn't we?!" Craig motioned towards Kura and Tyson.

"That wasn't bad." Slak said baubling onto the clearing. "But you still failed."

"What?!" All three said in unison.

"Look behind you."

They did to see the main group and the Ka Masters standing behind them.

"Sorry. You guys were yelling so much it was easy." Brent said pointing the staff at them.

"Finally." Tyson broke the vines.

"Wha- no! That's Samuel-Ka's unbreakable knot!" Craig cried.

"Sorry kid. You need some more practice at it." Kura also broke out.

"But then why stay tied up like that?!" Tails asked.

"Think about it you freak!" Dane yelled from the group. "If they went all out we'd never have a chance to win!"

Brent looked over at Salah. She nodded.

Brent thwacked Dane over the head with his staff.

"Oh the ways I want to hurt you right now...be glad Snobgirl's here."

"Thanks for that. That's really gonna improve my image." Salah rolled her eyes.

Brent went over to the dark purple hedgehog that noticed them earlier.

Erek cringed waiting for the blow.

"Everyone in this main group failed except for this kid. That was the hardest kick I've felt in a while." Brent smiled. "And you three passed for getting Kura and Tyson." He nodded at Tails, Sora and Craig. "All of you would've passed regardless but you have the ferret to thank for your GPA shrinking."

Salah helped Dane up.

"Sorry you had to go through that." She said giving him an ice pack. "But next time try not to tick off the teachers."

This isn't happening! It isn't happening! Dane screamed in his mind.

"That wasn't particularly bad." The wolf said. "Looks like Crayshen did a decent job of training the kid."

"It could of been better." His companion, a squirrel noted.

"I think we might need to see if we can pull the whole thing off. Those three are interesting." The wolf and squirrel walked away....

----

Tails collapsed into bed. The first time in 3 days he had slept in something soft.

Everything from being abandoned by the others, rescuing Sora, fighting Tyson was swirling around in his mind.

_How could I have been such an idiot_? He thought gloomily to himself. _That whole "traveler" thing was an obvious set up. Than we wouldn't have had to gone through that battle. Poor Craig. He'll probably be nursing that wound for months._

Every memory seemed to slip away as sleep took over.

_Is nothing ever gonna work out? Is life really that much against me? _Tails thought again while falling into sleep. **_It's out to get everyone else also. _**A grim thought poked it's way into his mind.

**_Everyone._**

-----

Brent sipped another spoonful of the 'potatoes'.

"You're going to make yourself sick from that! Potatoes are NOT supposed to be runny!" Tyson said judgmentally.

"I think I've become immune to it." Brent mumbled.

"Something's wrong isn't it?"

"Yeah. I feel sorry for those 3."

"So do I, but there's nothing we can do about it." Tyson leaned back in his chair.

"..........What were you up to Tyson? I mean before the Ta'Ka forced you to stay?"

".......You really want to know?"

Brent nodded.

"I was told....O-Zero wasn't gone yet. They sent me out to find any traces of it."

"Find anything?"

"No. They were wrong. Michael got every last bit of it."

"An explosion like that would kill anything on contact." Brent drank another sip of the liquid.

"That's the thing though...there wasn't a...."

"Corpse?"

Tyson looked a bit shocked. "Yeah, how'd ya know?"

"You're not the only one who was investigating O-Zero."

"You mean THAT'S what you were doing all this time?"

Brent shook his head.

"Close, but it's really not what I was doing. Why won't people believe me when I tell them I just needed to be alone?"

"Probably because it's not true." Salah walked into the Faculty Cafeteria.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore." Brent looked down at the bowl of indigestible food.

"I know. I'm sorry." Salah hung her head a bit. "It's just..."

"Yeah, I don't know what happened exactly either."

"That's what you were doing wasn't it? You were looking for Michael."

Brent nodded. "At first anyway...I got into.....some trouble.....anyway the rest is ancient history. How did you figure that one out?"

"People don't just run off to be alone for three years." Salah looked at him.

"Heh." Brent scratched the back of his head slowly. "I guess I should have figured that one out before I used that excuse."

"So why hide it?" Tyson asked.

"Because I found something."

"What?" Tyson and Salah asked in unison.

"Why do you think I've been hiding it? I'm not going to blab about it now." Brent finished the mystery meal and got up. "And if you excuse me, I'm going to bed."

Tyson and Salah stood there dumbfounded.

"That jerk, he led us on and wouldn't deliver." Tyson spat out the words.

"Looks like Fatmouth was keeping a few more secrets than we thought." Salah looked towards the door. "And I just saw through 'em."

"What?! How in the world...?"

"Lets just say it's a guess. Nothing else."

"Well what is it?"

"Find out yourself." She left the room laughing.

"Ah, the world's against me anyway." Tyson said to himself leaning back in the chair.

===

RETROSPECTIVE

Witty subtitles are hard to think of

===

Well there's another one down. The conversations with Kura may be a bit.....expected...but I still managed to get a bit of a laugh out of it every now and then. As for Erek being a dark purple hedgehog, I humbly apologize on everything I can think of. Sometimes people'll do anything to get past writer's block. Okay the lame dialogue doing the fight with Tyson fit the mood so I kept it so I won't apologize for that. Cliches can work to your advantage.

Finally there's O-Zero where the actual plot starts coming in. To this I say: Go watch Betterman it might make more sense if you do.

Oh, and I finally put dash lines between the transitions scenes. HTML Formatting and I do not get along well, a little ironic since I usually yell at people for that.

Alright, I'm leaving.


	6. I'd say Catfight, but that just be stupi...

"Ready for this?" Brent asked grabbing his Ka Staff.

"You don't have a prayer." Tails smirked.

"All right then first one to break the pattern loses. Let's go!"

The two began the regular battle patterns.

"1..2...3...4...1..2...3....4...5...1...2...1..2" The staffs hit each other in perfect unity.

"All right change turns. Let's see what you got." Brent switched to defense.

"1...2...3...4...5....1...2...3...1..2....1...2...1..2..3.." Tails created an unpredictable pattern.

"Not bad, but keep some form out there or you've blown the entire purpose of the exercise." Brent continued the training.

"Form, is only what you can predict." Tails said checking the pattern again.

"Wow, your own battle taunt. You're getting the hang of this thing all right." Brent laughed.

"Oh shut up! At least I don't go around acting like a jerk to everyone."

"Okay Prower you want to take it up a notch?!"

"You don't have the guts."

"You'll be sorry....Change turns then."

Brent began a 'jumping' pattern.

"1...3...5....1....4...6...."

"Hey we never went over this!" Tails struggled to keep up.

"This is a real battle pattern. I thought you could handle it." Brent smirked.

"Oh, you are so dead!" Tails caught up with the pattern and than fell behind again.

"Sorry. Don't try to get ahead of yourself again." Brent said delivering the last blow, causing Tails to defend out of the pattern.

"You lose." The cat spun the staff around.

"Ah, you cheated." Tails picked up his training staff and began walking back into the school with Brent. "Nearly 4 hours of training a day for nothing." He mumbled.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You adjusted to that jumping pattern pretty well."

"Yeah until I lost it."

Brent smiled. "Hey, if it's any comfort I sucked at this whole thing until I was twelve."

"You're just humoring me." Tails mumbled again.

"Drat. Can't believe you saw through that one." Brent gave off an exaggerated smile.

"No, I think you were right the first time." Salah passed him laughing.

"Very funny Snobgirl. If I remember right, you never got the hang of advanced patterns."

"Hmm? Was that a challenge?"

"Maybe it was....actually no it wasn't. Where in the world did you pull that question from?"

"Look just meet me in the sparring square tonight and I'll kick your butt in front of the entire student body." Salah walked on.

"What just happened?" Brent scratched the back of his head..

"This should be a good one.." Tails smiled.

"Oh shut up." The white cat baubled away.

Tails walked into the cafeteria, covered his head and ran for the table in the corner.

"Done with training already?" Sora asked as he got there.

"Yeah." He said brushing off whatever hit him as he came in.

"Slak-Ka was forbidden from cooking ever again." Sora smiled. "Kura-Ka's actually making something edible."

"And it's pretty good." Craig said taking a bite of the eggs in front of him.

"You guys won't believe this one. Salah-Ka and Brent-Ka are up for a fight tonight in the sparring square." Tails delivered the news.

"Waha! Twenty bucks says Salah-Ka wins!" Craig laughed.

"You're on!" Sora shook his paw. "She doesn't stand a chance."

Tails shook his head. "I don't know, I can sorta see her beating Brent-Ka up."

"Have a little faith in your own Ka Master!" Sora thwacked him lightly with her staff. "Hey, where's that sausage?! CRAIG?!"

"You were just letting them sit there."

"For 2 minutes!!!"

"That's way too long in my book."

"Than go get me some more!"

"No way, I'm not your slave."

"No but you ate my food. Now go lest you feel mine wrath!!!" Sora laughed.

"Honestly Sora, you and Craig should be in the sparring square tonight." Tails chuckled at the scene.

"Nah. I wouldn't want to kill him." Sora twirled her staff around a bit.

"Heads up!" Tails threw himself to the ground to avoid a breakfast platter in the face.

"What?! They've never even noticed this stupid table before!" Sora flung herself to the floor. "This is impossible."

"I think they're all aiming over there." Tails pointed to a table nearby.

"Ha! Dane's sitting there. Looks like he's finally getting his." Sora laughed darkly.

"This is becoming a war zone. Any safe spots left?" Tails dodged another plate of food.

"No. Looks like we have no choice but to defend ourselves." Craig came back carrying a full plate of sausage.

"What? Don't you dare....!" Sora leaped up to stop him, but was too late.

"Grab one and throw Sora." Tails joined in.

"Don't mind if I do." Sora chucked a sausage at Craig.

"Hey! I'm on your side here!"

"Well I'm still hungry!"

Tails looked over to the far side of the cafeteria.

"There's a clear spot. If we hurry we can make it."

"Yeah, but we'd have to go right through the eye of the storm." Craig looked there too.

"Hey, it's only food." Sora got up and ran for it.

"She has a point." Tails dashed off after her.

Craig sighed and went with them.

---

"Barred from cooking.....It only made a few people sick." Slak mumbled cutting the eggs.

"I think Kura's doing fine." Brent said eating another helping of breakfast. "For instance I'm not throwing up right now."

"Stuff it." Slak pushed the eggs around with his fork.

"You and Salah in the ring?! Ha! That'll be worthwhile." Tyson laughed.

"It's only been ten minutes since we agreed and I haven't even told anyone yet. Geez that's too freaky for words." Brent looked a bit shocked.

"Hey, word travels faster than light around here." Tyson said taking a bite of sausage.

"Things haven't changed much in 3 years have they?" Brent smiled.

"Nope." Tyson swallowed.

"Nyhh. These aren't eggs. They ain't got no bounce to 'em." Slak prodded the breakfast.

"Umm...Slak? Eggs aren't supposed to bounce."

"They only do that when they're good." Slak mumbled again.

"Yeah....whatever." Brent sweatdropped.

"If you don't tell him, I will." Tyson whispered to Brent.

"Let him think what he wants to." Brent whispered back getting up. "Now if you excuse me, I have a fight to train for."

"What are you worried Salah will kick your butt?" Tyson laughed at this.

"Actually yes."

"I sympathize." The otter shrugged.

---

Things were the same on the other side of the Faculty Cafeteria as well.

"Honestly, do you really think you have a chance?" Kura continued to cook the breakfast.

"What? Can't I have a little fun now and then." Salah took a bite of the eggs. "OW! CRAPCRAPCRAP!!!"

"At least wait until they cool." Kura rolled her eyes. "Fun? What so you want to get hurt out there?"

"Ah, C'mon this is Brent we're talking about. With any luck he'll impale himself."

"Yeah. You're nervous aren't you?"

"You nailed it. Well I guess I better go watch him practice to see what I'm up against."

"Wait a sec...you're going to watch him practice?"

"It's...just for compettional purposes only." Salah got up from the table.

"Salah, 'compettional' isn't a word." Kura laughed.

"Stuff it." Salah created a bauble and left.

---

"....No World War I was utterly pointless." Tails put his paws behind his head while walking down the hallway.

"Right, defending Europe from the Kaiser was just an afterthought." Craig tried to counter.

"Nobody won that war, but pretty much everybody lost. I still think it was a war based on the sole prinicpal that people just wanted to fight."

"You're saying the need to fight can smash up lives?"

"What are we doing right now? We're going to see two of teachers beat the crap out of each other with sticks. Isn't that step one?"

"But look at the honor the soliders had for each other. When Richtofen was shot down on the enemy lines, they gave him a full honors burial." The rabbit smirked. _(Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy or more....)-Brent_

Tails stopped and thought for a second. "I guess it's true. Or maybe they just realized how utterly pointless the war was itself."

"You know all I did was mention Bismark. Was he even alive by World War I?"

"I couldn't resist." Tails gave a cheesy smile.

Sora groaned behind them.

"Are you two done talking about.....whatever now?"

"Oh yeah, most brutal war in history, is whatever. Sure." Craig threw his paws up.

The three continued to the small sparring rings just outside of the training grounds. Unfortunately maybe the conversation about history did take too long, hardly a single spot was left on any bench.

"News travels fast here." Sora sighed.

"There goes our chance for seats." Craig mumbled.

"How 'bout that cliff up there? That looks like it'd be a better view. I can get you guys up there in a sec." Tails looked up.

"Didn't you say you didn't want anyone to know you could fly?" Sora asked him.

"I decided against that. I love to fly and I'm not gonna let what other people think stop me."

"In that case, two please." Craig got up.

"Oh...I've never really tried carrying two people at the same time..."

"First time for everything." Sora jumped onto his back.

"YEOOOOWWW! WHAT'YA TRYING TO DO KILL ME?" Tails cringed in pain. "JUST LET ME LIFT YOU GUYS!!!"

"Where'd be the fun in that? Be a man." Sora swapped a paw at his head.

"Hold it. Don't forget me." Craig waved his paw. "Uh, on second thought, just take me next time."

"Acck!" Tails felt the weight crushing him. "Fine whatever." He started spinning his tails.

"C'mon already." Sora mumbled.

"Just a sec.....this is heavy." Tails finally floated a bit up into the air. "Okay there we go....." He flew her over to the cliff, and went back for Craig, being sure to take him by the paws.

"Thanks a lot!" Craig jumped on to the cliff as they both neared the ground.

"Heh......" Tails collapsed.

"I guess he's exhausted." Sora sweatdropped.

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Craig smirked.

"Shut up!" She thwacked him with her staff.

---

The two Ka Masters stepped out into the ring.

"Hope you're ready, Eterna." Brent went into attack pose.

"Are you figuring tha by calling me by my last name, you're going to inflict a level of dramatic intimidation?" Salah asked in total honesty.

Brent scratched his head. "Could you like, go over that and have it, you know, make sense?"

The signal to begin the fight was given

Immediately flipping towards each other than began with a simple attack.

The two staffs met sending sparks flying and making a loud cracking noise.

"I'd call you a copycat, but that'd just be stupid."

"That's a horrible pun, you're losing your touch." _(I actually found it very funny)-Brent_

They continued.

Great now I can't use anything halfway decent or the staff'll break, Brent thought to himself stepping a bit out of the center

"Don't run away just yet, Fatmouth." Salah swung at him.

Brent countered. "Battle patterns it is than."

Brent began the offense. "1....2....3...4....1...2...1.2...1.2...12....3....3..."

"You call that a battle pattern? You don't have any form." Salah noticed the pattern.

"Form, is only what you can predict." Brent smiled and continued the wild strikes.

"Fine, you wanna play it that way?" Salah quickly switched to offense and used a jumping pattern that swung a bit to the right.

"3...5...6...1...5....3...6...1.."

"Way too easy." Brent threw her off the center of the ring.

"It is isn't it?" Salah smiled.

"What are you....ahhhhh!" He held his side. "Can't believe I missed that one."

They two stepped into the center again and entered Drive.

---

"Paging Mr. Prower......WAKE UP!!!" Sora shouted.

"Yeooww!" Tails leapt up. "Not in my ear!"

"You're missing it!" Craig motioned over to the ring below them.

"What in the world? Why are they just attacking head on like that?"

"Makes for a more interesting match."

They continued to watch.

"You think we should get some popcorn or something?" Tails leaned back a bit.

"Stuff it. I wanna watch this." Sora waved him off.

"Huh?" Craig looked down towards the crowd below. "I don't think I've ever seen him before."

"Who?" Tails looked down with him.

"That wolf. He's obviously not a student, and I'm pretty sure I know about everyone in the school."

"Blah blah blah. It's just probably some random guy we never heard of."

"Is it just me or is this conversation seeming a bit...."

"Foreshadowing?" Tails nodded. "Ya never know."

"Hey you morons! Stop watching the crowd and look ahead! They just entered Drive!" Sora looked wide eyed at the ring.

"Finally something decent." The two boys leaned forward.

---

"I can already tell what you're doing." Salah smiled.

"Well if you're sure you can handle it...." Brent continued his movements.

"I can....ready?" Salah copied them.

"Ready...." Brent held his breath.

"THAN TAKE THIS!!!!" They said in unison dashing at each other and then stopped midway.

"We must take an oath now before man, beast and God, that we never do anything that lame again." Salah started to come to her senses.

"It'll probably happen sometime in the future. Now hurry up you're ruining the suspense." Brent shook his head and flipped back into the starting position. Both emulated each others movements again and dashed towards each other.

The two staffs met once more with a brilliant ring as they made contact with their targets, and finally shattered into pieces.

"Heh...." Brent clutched his arm.

"Not too shabby." Salah grasped her shoulder.

The two stood there in true anime fashion just waiting to see which one would collapse. Neither saw each other go down at the exact same time.

---

"Perfect synch. Right up to the part where they virtually killed themselves." Sora nodded.

"I've seen better." Craig said smugly and folded his arms. "Don't worry about those two." He noticed the worried look on Tails' face. They'll get the full treatment at the MedCenter."

"Yeah I guess so...." Tails said quietly....and grinned. "Those morons. All that for a tie."

"They'll be upset when they here that result." Sora laughed.

"C'mon I'll fly you straight down." Tails offered. "ONE AT A TIME...."

"Wait a sec...did anyone see us getting up here?" Sora looked worried.

"They probably didn't even care....we just can't abuse the fact we're up here." Craig said. "Let's go already. It's cold."

"Gotcha." Tails nodded and got ready to fly again.

"The fight's over. Where the hell are you gonna drag me now?" The squirrel asked.

"I'm gonna go check up on an old friend." The wolf nodded. "We might need him in the end."

"You think he'll agree to it?"

"Maybe." The wolf smiled. "If not we can just use him as a pawn."

"Creepy Juro. Genuinely creepy."

---

RETROSPECTIVE

Many men died trying to end that spree...

---

Great, now the stupid song's stuck in my head. (Those of you who don't know, it's Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron. Don't ask)

This chapter/episode, whatever you wanna call it was almost completely and utterly pointless.

Almost.

Here at least I can start introducing some themes, and start just a tiny bit to get into everybody's heads.

You know, ever since I starting posting this, I haven't worked on the rest of the story. (About 8-10 chapters are done) Thankfully I've found inspiration in some of the small things. G.K Chesterton's _The Man Who Was Thursday_ for one and something that really helped me along lately, the strikingly brilliant samurai saga _Musashi_. Seriously read those books, you won't be dissapointed.....unless samurai and bone-chillingly depressingly true allegorias aren't your thing.

And on it goes.....I reworked some of the dialouge between Brent and Salah to make it not so "Blah, blah blah, yarrrgh! I'm fighting!" god awful Dragonball Z conversations......I cut out an entire scene with Craig practicing for the WWI discussion.......and I'm totally out of points to make for this chapter.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go play Ultima IV until my brain explodes.

__


	7. Genetic Enhancement and Plot Advancement

"Care to know how it turned out?" Tails waved a paw in mock disiplcine in front of Brent's face.

"Not one word." Brent lay on the bed mumbling.

"Word. Lighten up, you coulda lost ya know."

"Either way I'd still be in pain."

"That which does not kill you...." Tails started with a smirk.

"If I hear that quote one more time I'm gonna pop somebody's head off. Well...as soon as I can move..."

"You're a real jerk, you know that?"

"I do what I can." Brent laughed weakly.

The door opened again and a wolf walked in. Gray in color and wearing a blue bandanna on his arm. The symbol for Guard Wing, one of the two main forces of Ka Masters. Brent nodded slightly and turned to the fox.

"Hey, Tails go check up on Salah for me. I need to be alone for a sec."

"Gotcha." Tails got up. "And by the way...." He made a bauble and stepped inside.

"Ha! I've probably just blown his mind!" Tails laughed once he reached his destination.

"Um, you actually just baubled like 3 inches behind where you started.

Tails looked to see he was still in Brent's room in the MedCenter.

"Fine, you can get plenty of places just walking." Tails mumbled heading out the door.

"Nice kid." The wolf smiled.

"Stop trying to so fake. What's the reason of this unexpected surprise?" Brent sighed.

"Two years without seeing you and this is what I get?"

"Anything for you Juro. Especially if it involves you leaving me alone for all eternity."

"Are you gonna help me or not?"

"Fine. What is it?"

"It's about the NFE...."

===

".......Neo Factor Experiment." Salah said to Slak. "I've told you 7 times already about this."

"Is this the one where we get to make things explode?"

"No."

"When's that coming up?"

"Never. Now listen up, I'm out of commission for a while and I need you to take things over at the lab for me. Can you handle that?"

"Like a stick of dynamite." Slak baubled away.

"Now I'm scared..." Salah sweatdropped. "Hey! Nice to see you here. How's Brent?" She nodded slowly as Tails came in the room.

"Whining about nothing in particular." Tails smiled. "How 'bout you?"

"As if he could actually hurt me. I'm just taking the day off." Salah laughed but broke into a coughing fit. Signaling with one claw for him to wait a moment, she managed to clear her throat. "So he just shoved you off on me 'eh?"

"He's got a visitor. Some wolf."

"Wolf?"

"Yeah. Know 'em?"

"Used to. We had a....falling out." Salah's voice started to slow down a bit.

"Why do I sense a long overbearing angst filled flashback ahead?"

"I'm not that evil. Well....I'll keep as ammo for the next time you fall asleep in class."

"Uh. Right. What did you two do to each other anyway?" Tails sitting down in a chair his paws behind his head.

"It's just a little move we both know. It's possible to shatter bones if you use at just a hundredth of it's real strength."

"Uh huh. Let me guess...."

"Neither of us can even get that close. Remotely. But it still hurts like holy hell."

"Enough to get a room at a hospital apparently."

"Okay it wasn't smartest thing we've ever done. But that fight had to end somehow."

"You're gonna be back teaching soon?"

"Yep. Thanks to the MedCenter's staff....but I'll have to take a break from the lab."

"Huh? We have a lab?"

"State the fourth rule." Salah used one of her best overbearing teacher voices.

"I'm not in class right now." Tails held up his paws defensively but got the idea behind her look. "Seek all knowledge." He sighed.

"Bingo, and there you go."

"What'ya do there anyway?"

"Do you think genetic engineering is moral?"

"Actually yes. It's not the genes, it's the person. I'll take it you got some pretty highly classified stuff down there." Tails smiled.

"Eh, this and that." Salah shrugged as best she could. "Care to take a look? I need someone to make sure Slak doesn't try to blow up everything and they won't let me down there."

"I'm all up for it." Tails nodded.

"You got it than. Come by the basement floor tomorrow with Craig and Sora. I'll have Sharpear show you around."

"I appreciate it." Tails waved in paw in thanks and got up. "Hey I finally figured this out!" He created a bauble and stepped inside.

"OH CRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!!!!" A noise came flying by outside her open window.

"Be glad you can fly, that's what happened to Slak!" Salah shouted out of it. Poor kid. Sometimes it seemed he was the victim of someone with a really weird sense of humor.

===

"You're kidding? 5 stories? The Academy isn't even 5 stories tall!" Sora laughed.

"That wasn't funny! I could have been a kitsune flapjack!" Tails shuddered.

"Flapjack?"

"I don't know, I thought it sounded clever."

"It didn't."

"Okay I get the point!" Tails sighed. "But you guys can come tomorrow right?"

"Sure!" Sora said.

"I've...uh...gotta train with Samuel-Ka." Craig said nervously.

"But Sharpear....I mean Samuel-Ka is the one showing us around, remember?" Tails looked at Craig.

"Oh yeah....well I gotta make sure Brent-Ka and Salah-Ka are okay.....you know...." Craig darted his eyes from left to right.

"No I don't."

"Look I've heard rumors.....I walk in there and I walk out a half-rabbit, half basketball, half computer."

"Craig, that's too many halves. Who told you that anyway?" Sora asked

"It was Cume......Okay that alone proves it's false. All right I'm in." Craig recovered.

"You're an odd one Craig." Tails folded his arms and sighed.

"Not to mention short." Sora pushed down on Craig's head.

"You guys are never gonna let me live that down are you?"

"Nope!" The two foxes said in unison.

===

"So you want me to stop them from using the NFE on the students?"

" Don't forget that's how O-Zero was created in the first place." The wolf grumbled.

"I'm still wondering, you were with Michael that night how in the world DID you survive that explosion?"

"Luck. A little armor and luck." The wolf seemed to realize something and thwacked Brent with his staff.

"Hey! I'm not training anymore, I can call you anything I want!"

"Oh, right sorry." Juro sweatdropped.

"What have you been up to anyway? I mean since that whole trouble in Crystal?"

"Mason and I were looking for you. We figured you'd come back here eventually."

"You had it planned out that long?"

"Well I saw how my brother trained you and figured you'd be the best choice."

"Flattering, but you're a terrible liar. Forget it." Brent raised a claw towards the door.

"I also know Crayshen. You're not terribly strong but admit it. Sometimes everyone seems weak don't they?"

"....Hey, I live with the consequences, and so can everybody else. Just leave already."

"Your choice." The wolf shrugged leaving through the door.

Words couldn't describe Brent's hatred of him right now. Actually they were several that could but they would break the rating rules.

===

"How come you never told me about this place Samuel-Ka?" Craig asked looking around.

"It's semi-secret." Sharpear said walking them along the rows of animals working.

"Semi-secret?" Tails asked confused.

"Everyone student knows it's here but none of them knows what goes on." Sharpear explained.

"Well what does go on?" Sora looked at some the experiments being performed.

"This, that and the other." Sharpear smiled.

They stepped into an office.

"I've gotta go get something you kids okay here for a while?"

"Let me guess, you don't want us to touch anything?" Craig asked.

"No go ahead root through the files, burn the place down if you want to." Sharpear laughed closing the door behind him.

"Well might as well get started." Sora opened a file cabinet.

"Umm...I think he was joking." Tails scratched the back of his head.

"Here's a good one, the file for a Miles Prower."

"Touch that and die."

"Forget it! Let's see 'Has a tendency to act on impulse and rely on gut instinct. Very apologetic and also a wimp. Is absolute nothing compared to his graceful and beautiful friend Sora Lateri."

"You liar! It doesn't say a thing about that last part."

"Maybe it does. You're not reading it I am." Sora stuck her tongue out.

Craig got another file out.

"Than I guess we'll just have to read THIS while we pass the time." He waved a folder around reading "Sora Lateri."

"Hmm? Does it mention my grace and finesse?" Sora looked over.

"It says 'A hot tempered student who tends to lie, cheat, and steal. Once accused of brushing off her friends in a training exercise to prove she wasn't a loser. The attempt failed miserably." Craig smiled darkly.

"ARGHH!! THAT DOES IT!" Sora hit him hard with her staff. "Don't lie about your friends."

"Uhhh, yeah....." Tails started to back up from Sora.

"WHAT WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"Absolutely nothing?..........OW!" Tails collapsed to the ground from the blow.

"..........Ummm..." Sora realized what she just did.

Craig and Tails got up clutching their training staffs.

"Umm....two wrongs don't make a right?" Sora smiled nervously.

"No but it'll sure as hell make me feel better." Tails klonked her on the head.

"Payback!" Craig followed the blow.

"Owwwww! Okay I get the picture!" Sora rubbed her head.

"Let's put the stupid files away already." Tails got both of them and looked in the cabinet.

"According to alphabetical order...."

"Arghh! You're taking too long! Here!" Sora grabbed the files out of his hand, slammed them in the drawer and closed it.

"Great, now they'll know we were looking at them!" Tails looked angrily at her.

The door opened to reveal Sharpear.

"Good, that was the idea. Find anything?" The dog asked.

"No!" They all shouted in unison.

"Than look for the stupid file again!" Sharpear went out slamming the door behind him.

"Um......What was that all about?" Tails sweatdropped.

"Don't talk just read." Sora opened the file cabinet again and started throwing the folders all over the place.

"Do you even know what your looking for?" Craig asked.

"No but I intend to find out." Sora kept digging.

Tails sighed and went over the desk and got something.

"It's this." He waved a single sheet of paper in front of their faces.

"Oh...." Sora stopped and started picking up the folders.

Tails' eyes floated down to the memo he was holding.

"Roddis-Ka wants to hurry up and complete the Neo Factor Experiment."

"Any clue what that is?" Sora asked still cleaning up.

"Not one. But I think you should stop for a second and look through those folders again."

Sora put the folders down and Craig went through them.

"Got it. Neo Factor Experiment is a way to boost any creature's abilities to amazing heights and strength....blah, blah blah....it's all standard genetic engineering crud." Craig read off the papers in the folder.

"Apparently they've tried it a few times. First one was on....um....."

"Well, who was it?" Sora asked.

Craig gulped. "A Taraku L-lat-teri." He finally stuttered out.

Sora's eyes grew big. "TARAKU?!"

"Who was that?" Tails asked.

"I don't know." Sora shrugged.

Tails and Craig fell over.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR THAN?" Craig yelled as they both got back up.

"Dramatic effect." Sora said. "Lateri's have been attending the Academy for generations it was probably someone in my extended family."

Craig looked over the file again.

"Apparently the experiment didn't affect Taraku the way everyone planned....the body was mutated into a dangerous form. The Ta'Ka named this failed experiment O-Zero...guess it must have sounded cool.... experiment went berserk.....blah blah...they stopped it.....the rest of it is just Salah-Ka writing about how the experiment's preformed. I don't have a clue of what any of it means." The tiny rabbit scanned down the file further. "Cross references include, Michael Banelan, Meora Eterna, Richard Vale....okay this list goes on for a while never mind."

"Well THAT explains a lot." Sora frowned. "Most of the older Ka Masters around here are pretty advanced but they couldn't swing a staff to save a parrot. Makes sense to me.

"But the experiment was a failure wasn't it?" Tails asked. "How could it be performed on them if they're not berserk?

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't." Craig shrugged. "The point is the Ta'Ka want to rush another experiment that could kill somebody."

"Yeah..." Tails started. "But than again if it really did help all the older guys...Maybe they fixed the mistake that mutated Taraku whoever he was."

"Wait, huh?" Sora scratched her head.

"It might not be dangerous anymore." Tails summed it up.

"FINALLY! I was wondering if you were ever going to get to the point." a voice came out of nowhere.

The trio jumped a bit from fright.

"Relax, kiddos. I had Sharpear show ya in here for good reason." A figure walked up to the middle.

"Didn't I just see you yesterday?" Tails asked.

"Yep. The name's Juro Banelan." The wolf smiled.

===

"Furthermore the properties of all techniques do not stem from the attack Drive. While many do it is also important to consider other factors." Salah stood in front of the class.

"You can't ever forget variables such as speed or strength. If you use these abilities you may be able to pull off an advanced move WITHOUT entering Drive...Now for....today's...assignment...." She caught a signal from the hallway. "....Uh just read the chapter on advanced tech and.....I don't know, write an essay about it."

Everyone groaned.

"Just get it started you have class time...excuse me." Salah walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

"What in the world's the matter with you?" She whispered to Brent when she was out in the hallway.

"Did Juro talk to you yesterday?" Brent asked.

"No, now why did you...."

"Did you ever tell him about the Neo Factor Experiment?"

"........How do you know what-"

"Not now. Just tell me...were you the one who told him about the NFE or was it Vale?"

"...........Vale. Juro had to know about it. He was with Michael the night of the explosion."

"Did Vale leave any notes behind? I mean what went wrong in the first place?"

"Yeah he left something. It was the fact the subject's body couldn't handle the boost."

"Couldn't handle it?" Brent laughed.

"That's cruel!"

"...Huh? Oh, who was the subject you were talking about."

"......"

"Salah?"

"Taraku."

"You're kidding. No wonder he turned into O-Zero. He never could handle the simplest tech."

"That's why they used the NFE on him."

"Listen, Juro's up to something. He wanted me to bring him the boosted DNA so that Neo Factor could never be performed again."

"He probably just wants to make sure there isn't going to be an O-One or O-Two. I don't blame him. I think the whole thing's a failure from the start." Salah said.

"You don't get it do you? He wanted me to BRING HIM the boosted DNA not destroy it."

"But that's insane! We don't even know if we have all the bugs worked out, he'd have to test it out on......"

The realization of the whole thing dawned on her.

"....You're thinking the same thing I am?" Brent asked.

"....Sharpear's with them. They'll be fine."

"Sharpear doesn't know what Juro's up to! What if he believes Juro is out to help with the NFE and needs the kids for some reason?"

"....Your just being paranoid. Besides Juro doesn't have the brains."

"Mason does."

"Mason's with him?....The experiment changed anyway. He can't do a thing about it."

"You're absolutely positive?"

"Yes! Now go away, you're cutting into my class time."

"You just assigned your class a massive reading and writing chapter. You don't have to worry about anymore lectures."

"They might tear apart the classroom..."

"And have to face the Ta'Ka?"

"Well.....Alright. We'll CHECK on them. That's IT." She created a bauble and they both stepped inside.

====

"You're saying that the NFE has perfected?" Sora asked.

"Yes. Yes it has." Juro shrugged.

"Wait a minute, I've never seen you around how do you know it was finished?" Tails raised an eyebrow.

"I work exclusively in the lab." Juro said.

"Makes since..." Craig started. "Except for the Guard Wing bandanna on your arm."

"Well...maybe not exclusively..." Juro started to grow a little frantic.

The three kids looked at each other. There couldn't be a more perfect example of someone lying out their teeth in the rest of the universe.

"Get this. He wants to use you to further his own ends." Brent and Salah stepped out of a bauble.

"Cool." Tails nodded. "I've always wanted to be involved in a conspiracy."

"You stay out of this! You're not even supposed to be in here!" Juro growled.

Everyone looked over at Brent.

"Forget it. I don't know how in the world you're related to Michael." Brent narrowed his eyes.

Back to Juro.

"You don't get it! Taraku was weak, he couldn't handle the NFE but a moderately strong body can!"

Snippet from Brent....

"And they'll have to live with the regret all their lives."

"What are you talking about? This is our chance to make sure O-Zero is never created again!"

"And for you to cover up your own damn mistakes!" Brent flipped a brand new staff in Juro's direction.

FINALLY. Build up to a fight was so tedious.

"You're being disrespectful." Juro drew his staff also.

"Excuse us...." Salah tapped him on the shoulder. "But it's 5 against one." She pointed to the students who had also prepared.

"Moron." The wolf smiled as he drug her into the center and covered her mouth. "You know the drill, give me the NFE DNA or...Ayaaa!"

Salah had flipped him over her shoulder. Apparently Juro had never studied feisty catgirls in most fiction. You don't want to tick them off very often.

"Never try that again." Salah entered Drive and thwacked him in the stomach using the tip of her staff. If she turned it at all, it really would be gut-wrenching no pun intended. Okay, yeah pun intended. But regardless Juro was in a bit of a corner.

"Way to go Salah-Ka!" Sora cheered raising her fist.

"In trouble again Banelan?" A non-descript squirrel with a small sword at his side, baubled into the room.

"Shut up and get me out of here!" Juro yelled avoiding Salah's attempts to hit him.

"Your choice....Nice to see you again Ms. Eterna." the squirrel bowed.

"Oh please. Pops wouldn't want me anywhere near stereotypical, stuffy over-polite villains anyway." Salah shook her head.

"Picky." Mason sighed and reached out to catch Juro as they both baubled away.

"Why didn't he do that in the first place?" Tails asked.

"You can't bauble in the middle of a battle, you'd be too focused on other things." Brent replied.

Everyone seemed to realize what just happened.

"Were we almost.......?" Sora was still shook up.

"You three were just about to be tricked, drugged and experimented on..." Salah looked over at them.

"AND I HAD TO MISS IT?!" Sora's face flew up in fury.

"Be glad you're not withering piles of goo." Brent created a bauble. "You coming Salah? You're still supposed to stay away for a while.

Salah shook her head.

"I've got some notes of Vale's to go over right now and my class should be over too."

"Suit yourself. How about you guys?"

"Eh, nothing special here." Tails shrugged as the three walked towards the bauble.

"I think I just wanna go to the commons and waste any brain power I have left." Sora yawned. "It's been too stressful a day."

"Why am I even here?" Craig raised an eyebrow at the others.

"What meaning of life, why are you here, or why do you hang out with us, why are you here?" Tails started as all three of them stepped in the sphere.

"Never mind." Craig shook his head as the bauble started to shrink.

===

"That was mildly entertaining." Mason laughed.

"Hmm...looks like I'll need to approach things differently." Juro mumbled to himself.

"And get beat up by Ms. Eterna again?"

"It could have worked....if she wouldn't have flipped me....Crayshen would just try to defend that fox if I went near him......guess we'll have to take it to the top." the wolf smiled.

"Are you even sure the NFE is perfect?"

"If it is, we have to get it away from the Ta'Ka as fast as possible. Stupid cat, he didn't let me get a word in edgewise. I'll show 'em next time, when I beat his face in I guess."

"Uh huh." Mason shook his head. Sometimes he really wondered about Juro.

===

"Are you sure about this Salah? You're not even supposed to be down here." Slak asked her.

"I told you what happened. I need to read some of Vale's records."

"You've already prodded through the whole thing."

"...What about the report files?"

"........I can't let you read those. You know that."

".............Than do me a favor."

"What?"

The wildcat turned her head around to face him.

"Scramble the NFE to the point where it's unusable."

"We can't do that! The Ta'Ka will...."

"The Ta'Ka have already been informed. Just make a record of the current pattern and hide it...somewhere good."

"...You're right I'm sorry. I nearly...!"

"If you say 'exploded', I'll feed your mangy carcass in the cafeteria." Salah put her head in her paws. "And it'd still be better than half the stuff you cook."

"That's really not funny." The rat mumbled.

====

RETROSPECTIVE

"Sounds like a spy movie"

====

Okay genetic enginering. Done to death, but it's fun to work with. I seriously took a LOT of ideas from Betterman for that, so with that I've officially tipped my hat to about 6 outside sources. (I think, I could be wrong)

Juro is one of my least favorite characters simply because he's basically the negative of one of my favorites (Whom you'll see soon enough) I don't really like writing his part. He's not a villain and neither is Mason, I just don't like writing about him.

Mason on the other hand is dealt a wonderful card as the "mysterious" sidekick-type and his quiet insults at Juro can be pretty entertaining sometimes.

This chapter got a near-total rewrite, reworking almost all of the dialogue, most of the scenes, and a major, major plot-change. I guess you can always improve something no matter how many times you type it.

Cool, a pretty decent quote, I'm ending it on that note.


	8. SimPrison

"You've got to be kidding me." Tails flopped down on his bed.

"Well, everyone has to bring their grade up from the last time." Brent stood in the doorway scratching the back of his head. "Besides it should be easy enough. You're in teams of five this time, so they can't pull another stunt like in the woods."

"Already assigned?"

"Nope, you have to divide that up yourselves."

"How come your telling me now instead of tomorrow morning?"

"The exercise starts in 3 and a 1/2 hours."

"ARGHH!!!! I haven't got a full night's sleep in days!" Tails buried his face in the covers. "Go away and let me take a nap."

"You still haven't trained today. Sorry."

"Somehow a mere 'arghhh' isn't going to be justified." Tails got up. "Let's just get this over with."

Brent baubled them out to the training ground.

"All right. You know the drill..." Brent spun his staff.

"Battle patterns than?"

"....You know what? How's about a sparring match for training today?

"Uh..." Tails backed up a bit. He really wasn't in the mood.

"Oh stop being so pessimistic and let's get over to the ring."

The bleachers, since the official battles were over for the day, were bare which suited Tails fine. He was a little embarrassed about this. He knew he'd probably win, but there was always that nagging feeling in the back.

"C'mon show some backbone." Brent prodded him with his Ka Staff.

"All right."

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

"What's the matter? Start." Brent dashed towards him.

Tails took a deep breath and did the same.

The two metal staffs clanged together as the fight began.

"They did a decent job of fixing that thing up." Tails noted.

"Yeah. It's a pretty decent works." Brent continued and went on to battle patterns.

"1...2...3...4...5...5...5....2...3....5...5...5.."

"2...1...3...5...4....5...4...5..." Tails defended each blow like it was nothing at all.

"Not bad. Let's see what you got in the way of techs." Brent entered Drive.

"I think I've got a shocker..." Tails smiled and began the opening movements of Drive.

"Oh, boy you're not serious are you?" Brent laughed.

"You've got this coming." Tails continued the movements.

"Radical Drive is only for experts you c-ccaaaaaaaaannnnnnnttt......." Brent dropped to his knees as Tails shoved the staff vertically into his chest.

"Dammit! What are trying to do kill me?!" Brent got back up.

"What's wrong?"

"Radical Drive is deadly, I'm lucky enough you're not strong enough to impale me or I wouldn't be talking right now! Why do you think I flipped the staff horizontally when fighting Tyson?!"

"How am I supposed to know that?!" Tails said angrily.

"Good point. Cripes, I'm gonna have trouble if you keep this up." Brent smiled. "That was incredible. I didn't master Radical Drive until I was out those 3 years. You're making this whole thing up as you go and you're doing it...RIGHT."

"But...you just said it wasn't at full strength."

"A few more months and it will be." Brent said seriously. "Now go back to that nap or whatever you were gonna take. I'll count all that pain as 2 hours....crap."

"Um....sorry." Tails scratched the back of his head.

"Don't mention it. You got that bauble fixed yet?"

"No, I nearly drowned the last time."

"But we're no where near any.....water. Oh." Brent began to laugh. "Went a little off huh? You need some help?"

"Nah. I'll just walk or fly places." Tails turned around. "You sure you're okay?"

"I hope so. See ya tonight."

"Thanks." Tails ran out of the training ground.

Brent sighed. He was nowhere near what he should be if one little fox was giving him trouble. At least not like this anyway.

"That was odd." A voice said.

"I thought it was kind of funny." Another rang out.

"Quiet! He might hear us."

"Too late." Brent sighed. "You two need to get better at this whole stealth thing."

He walked behind the bleachers to find exactly what he expected. Tyson and Sora.

"Uhh, really I just thought.......that maybe Lateri here could learn a few things from observation." Tyson sweatdropped.

"And you wanted to see me lose to my student."

"Yep." Sora smiled.

"Shouldn't you two be getting ready for the next exercise?"

"Why when we can watch the "greatest Ka Master on the face of the earth" get beat up by his own student. You're lucky you can't kill a rumor Crayshen, or people would see you for what you are. The bottom of the barrel."

"I could never be the greatest Ka Master on Earth, Michael was."

Tyson sighed.

"Look I hate to tell you this, but Michael was really NOT that advanced."

"I know."

"But you just said-"

"Strength had nothing to do with it. There's a big difference between Michael and me."

"The fact you're a jerk and he wasn't?"

"Bingo." Brent smiled and baubled away.

"Should've seen that one coming." Tyson winced.

"Hey wait a sec..." Sora looked up inquisitively. "Where is the exercise going to be anyway?"

"Training Factor 5. It's a...oh you'll find out." Tyson baubled away also.

"Hey! Hey! What about me? What am I supposed to do now? Tyson-Ka?!!!!!" Sora shouted to an empty training ground.

---

"On second thought maybe we won't try anything tonight." Juro looked over at Mason. "If there's another exercise I'd like a chance to observe that Miles kid."

"You think he could handle the NFE?"

"He might. So far he's been a complete enigma. It's quite amazing to see someone learn techs like that when they're only a few weeks into the semester."

Mason took out the sword at his side.

"It's funny isn't it? All those morons there use pathetic staffs, when they could have real power."

"It's tradition." Juro got out his Ka Staff. "And I rather like them, they're much faster than that clunky thing."

"True......" The squirrel hilted his sword again. "I still think it's better."

"Of course, a little strength isn't a bad thing by far." Juro smiled. "And it'll certainly help us...."

---

"Wow Tails I just don't know if I can keep up with you anymore!" Sonic smiled at him.

"Must've been all that training at the Academy! I can't believe I graduated with the highest honors ever given." Tails gave a wide grin. "Plus I've invented a machine that will solve the problem of world hunger, the ozone layer, AND will make the world's best chili dog."

"Well I'm certainly glad this amazingly large parade is being held in your honor." Sonic looked down from the decorative float they were on.

"So am I."

"You know this is a dream don't you?"

"Don't ruin it Sonic..." Tails put his paws behind his head and leaned back in the throne on top of the float.

"I won't but she will..."

"Wha?"

"I said it's time for the stupid exercise get you're lazy butt UP!" Tails was awakened with a large thwack in the head.

"Hi Sora. How are you?" Tails sighed getting up. "And how did you get in here?"

"It involved Zen picking the lock and Gil to kick open the door."

"If you picked the lock why kick open the door?"

"I don't know it just seemed appropriate. Oh right, Miles 'Tails' Prower meet my cousins Zen and Gil Lateri." Sora motioned to the two boy foxes behind her. "Oh and Craig's here too if anyone cares."

The two cousins could not have been more different from each other. It seemed they contrasted in every way, one had brown fur, one had red. One was messy, one was clean. It was a little hard to tell they were related at all.

"Don't mind me...." Craig said looking around. "Not bad, you must pay more tuition than me...hey you have your own mini-bar!!"

"Stay out of that! It's $2.00 for a bag of peanuts!" Tails groaned.

"Besides we have meet with Tyson-Ka. He's taking us to Training Factor 5" Sora grabbed Craig by the ears.

"Sure." Tails got his staff out of the corner it was in. "Ready when you guys are."

"$12.50 for a candy bar?" Gil looked in the mini bar.

"C'mon." Zen pulled Gil out of the room by the tail.

"On with the show." Tails followed them.

They had only walked a little while when Tails' noticed something.

"They've been staring at me weird the whole time." He whispered to Sora. "You DID tell them why I'm called Tails didn't you?"

"It's not that....they're probably amazed someone could be a student of Brent-Ka's and still be alive after two weeks." Sora whispered.

Tails turned around.

"No, I haven't learned any advanced techs, or how to time travel with a bauble and I've seen Brent-Ka do ONE thing out of the ordinary. ONE THING. So don't go thinking I'm suffering through hell because it's just like any other training session."

Zen and Gil looked unimpressed. "O...kay. That would explain things...if that was our question" Gil backed up a little.

"We just heard this weird rumor. Is it true you're pals with Sonic the Hedgehog?" Zen asked

"Yep." Tails smiled.

"Not this again!" Sora stormed ahead of him angrily.

"Ummm..." Tails sweatdropped. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked the two behind him.

"Yeah, you made Sora mad." Zen patted him on the back. "Too bad, I was beginning to like you too."

"If you need someone to write up your will we can give you the number of the family lawyer." Gil said seriously.

"I guess I should go apologize...for whatever I did..." Tails scratched his head.

"Wait she lets you apologize?" Gil looked shocked

"What do you guys usually do?"

"Roll up into a little ball and cower in fear until she forgets the whole thing." Gil said.

Tails walked ahead to catch up with Sora.

"Uhh...I'm sorry?"

"Oh you're apologizing how cute." the vixen sneered at him.

"What did I do this time?"

"Nothing. It's what you've been doing all the time. You're quite the amazing kid aren't you? A student of Brent-Ka's, a close friend of Sonic, a genius in your classes. Why waste time even talking to some lowlifes like the Lateri family?"

"Sora....I never meant to hurt you or anything."

"Just.......leave me alone for a while okay?" Sora sighed.

Tails slowed down until he was back with Craig, Zen, and Gil.

"Wow. No blood. I think she likes you." Zen noted.

"Yeah...uh huh." Tails mumbled hanging his head a bit.

".....You guys go ahead." Craig motioned for the two to leave. They did.

"You okay?" The tiny rabbit asked his friend.

"I don't even know what I'm doing wrong half the time." Tails said gloomily. "It's out to get everyone. Not just me, Sora too."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Life."

"Look she just needs some time to calm down she does this all the time anyway you know that."

"It's just.....it's a stupid mistake I'm here in the first place! If I hadn't tried to be the hero, I would have never met Brent-Ka, never came here and Sora wouldn't be so depressed about it."

"Depressed about it? Tails you're one of her best friends. And she only has us two!"

"I know But other times she just hates me pure and simple and just for being here."

"If you weren't here her life would be a lot more miserable."

"I......just wish for once, just for ONCE she'd go a whole day without complaining about us."

"She's just a little short tempered. That's what got her separated from the others. Even Zen and Gil are taking a big risk socially by helping us out. Sora was always more or less an outcast from the rest of the Lateri's. Would you believe she's only the third female Lateri to attend the Academy?"

"Heck yeah. She certainly acts like it."

"Would you also believe she pretty much hates her life?"

"Thanks to me."

"This has nothing to do with you.....the truth is she's not really a Lateri anymore. Her father disowned her."

"What?!"

"It's a long story."

"How come she tells YOU these long stories and not me?"

"I didn't hear this from her. I heard it from Zen. I don't think she wanted anyone to know. Sora's parents were expecting a boy. I mean really expecting one. Her dad was a former member of the Ta'Ka, and he wanted a guy to carry on what he had. Instead he got Sora. Her dad was really ashamed of her. No matter what he did he wouldn't be able to carry on his "line". In his view his entire family was erased with Sora."

"Bastard."

"Yeah I know. She's been trying though she really has. I think that's the reason she's mad at us all the time. All that anger at her dad building up in her had to come out somewhere. She wants to prove to him that he was wrong and she can amount to at least something else than a pile of mud."

"What about her mom?"

"From what I heard from Zen, her mom just hangs around in the background. I don't think Sora has had a shred of parental compassion since the day she was born. Thankfully Zen and Gil's parents put forth the tuition to get her here."

They caught up with the others. Sora and Tyson were telling some joke to Zen and Gil.

"That might explain a lot." Tails said to Craig. "When you look at it, she sees Tyson-Ka as a sort of the father figure she never had. I think she has a crush on him."

"That WOULD explain a lot." Craig whispered back.

"And that's when the sailor says 'That's no kraken, that's my wife'!" Tyson finished the joke.

Zen and Gil gave off fake smiles as Sora and Tyson busted up laughing.

"Why did I not expect something else from an otter?" Tails smiled.

"Hey are all of you ready?" Tyson noticed the two in the back.

"Yep!" Craig said.

"Good." Tyson created a bauble and they all stepped inside.

They came out somewhere in a large military like base.

"Welcome to Training Factor 5." Tyson said a bit harshly. "Go into the respective locker rooms and put the blue jumpsuits on, you are now official prisoners of the Ka Masters."

The 5 looked a bit shocked.

"GO ON!" Tyson roared sending them running for the locker rooms.

"This is ridiculous!" Gil said to the others when they were inside the boy's room.

"It's all in the spirit of the exercise." Tails sighed putting on the blue jumpsuit he was left.

"It's a bit too realistic for me." Gil shuddered.

"Wimp." Zen zipped up the jumpsuit.

"Umm...I don't think they have anything in my size." Craig tried to pull his up.

"Aren't these things supposed to be skintight?" Tails asked focused on zipping the jacket up his chest.

"I've got it." The rabbit's suit was a little baggy but not by much.

"C'MON LET'S GET A MOVE ON! I WANT TO SEE ALL OF YOU OUT HERE NOW!" A voice boomed through the room.

"Well, at least we know Brent-Ka's here." Craig winced.

"Great, now I can be spat upon by my own Ka Master." Tails rolled his eyes "Let's just get this over with."

They walked out into the section they were in earlier. Sora was waiting for them wearing the same blue jumpsuit.

"Bleh. This thing itches." She sniffed.

Tails looked over at her and nearly froze.

Skin....tight.

Priorities Prower, Priorities! Aw, screw priorities.

"All right what've we got.." Brent snapped him out of any thoughts he was having. "Ias, Prower, Lateri, Lateri and....Lateri. Forget it. First name basis." The cat sighed. "Sorry about the jumpsuits. They probably itch. You don't want to know why. Okay you guys are Team C.

Your personal objective is to capture one member of Team A, get out of Training Factor 5 and meet with your "outside contact". The identity of your outside contact is a complete secret. All the teams have the same contact and there are papers, files and such scattered around the base to help you out. Some will be clues to reveal the contact while others would be like telling you which teams are wearing which jumpsuits. I myself am your "ghost contact" If you have big trouble on the way contact me with your radios but I'm also supposed to playing a guard as well so don't call me every 3 seconds or I may not show up. You guys got all that?"

Everyone in Team C nodded.

"You also realize that if any one of you gets caught by the Ka Masters including your prisoner the entire team fails?"

They nodded again.

"Okay good than you have a 20 minute head start. See ya guys on the outside." Brent put the staff in the attentive pose, saluted and left.

"Well...." Gil stared blankly into space. "What now?"

"It means we should split up you idiot!" Zen sighed.

"Split up already? You sure?" Craig looked skeptical.

"We'll have a much better chance if we look around different locations. We can contact with the radios." Zen folded his arms. "And I'd like to go already."

"How are we going to split up?" Sora asked.

Zen smiled darkly. "We'll take the rabbit with us to the east portion of the camp, you and Tails can go to the west."

Tails gave a death look towards the Lateri brothers as they walked away chuckling.

Sora cleared her throat.

"C'mon let's go already." She mumbled trudging off in the opposite direction.

"Those two are going to kill each other." Craig looked over his shoulder.

"Heh, heh heh. You don't get it do you shorty?" Gil snickered.

"YOU don't get it nutbrain." Zen dragged him off by his tail again "Leave the two alone for a while. They need to get back on good terms." He said to Craig.

"Very good terms." Gil chuckled again.

"Would you shut up?!" Zen pulled on Gil's tail even harder.

"That's very painful." Gil winced at this.

Craig looked at the two and smiled. That was the Lateri gene working alright.

---

They had walked for about 10 minutes with not a word spoken.

Tails looked around for anything, an office, a building, something they could look in. Something caught his eye.

"Lights are on in that shack over there." He whispered and pointed. "Either they're trying to help us out or it's a trap."

"It could be both." Sora thought for a second. "Too risky. Let's take the one 3 buildings away."

"You sure? It looks just like all the others."

"Yeah I'm sure...or do you have something better to suggest?" Sora looked over at him angrily.

"N-no." Tails backed up a bit.

They walked on to the plain non-descript square.

Tails opened the door and they went in.

"Ah cripes! It's pitch black. Where's a light switch?" Sora waved her arms around looking for one.

"Bad idea. They'd see the light." Tails grabbed her paw before it hit the switch.

"You got any ideas?" She asked a little irritably.

"....The mini-bot's made to have flashlight capability. We could use that." Tails thought for a second "That is, uh... if you want to use it..." He let go and waited.

"We don't have a choice....umm...this is the one that doesn't explode right?" She gave off a faint laugh.

"Hope not." Tails laughed a little also. He got the mini-bot and remote from his pack and started it up.

"Let's see Flashlight Mode is this button.........."

A beam of light shot out from the mini-bot's eyes.

"See anything?" He asked maneuvering the mini-bot around.

"File cabinet to your left." She headed over to it and opened it. "No good it's empty."

"Huh?! Oh crap! Sora, duck!" Tails yelled at her.

She did just in time as the mini-bot rammed into the wall and gave off a small explosion.

"The remote's gone crazy again..." Tails mumbled.

"We've got bigger problems." Sora shushed him and listened quietly. "They heard it..." She whispered.

They quickly moved the file cabinet out of the corner and tried to hide behind it.

"See anything Sharpear?" A voice that could only be Salah's entered the building.

"I'm Sharpear not Sharpeye. Don't see a thing, turn the light switch on."

"No, we might be able to ambush any students who come in here."

"This is just a random building. I think it's empty....except....for breathing." Sharpear's ears perked up. "In the corner."

"Aw crap!" Tails whipped out his training staff, and dragged Sora behind him. "Forget it!" He dashed towards the exit swinging the staff furiously at Salah and Sharpear.

"This isn't gonna work!" Sora yelled behind him when they were outside. "You may be friends with Sonic but you're not as fast as him!"

"No but aren't you forgetting something?" Tails stared to float off the ground.

"Nice try kid but..." Salah stood in shock as the two flew away.

"Sorry about this Salah-Ka!" Tails said as they faded into the distance.

"I forgot about that! Darnit!" Salah turned around and headed back for the building that was lit up. "C'mon we did what we could." She said motioning to Sharpear to follow her.

---

"5 buildings and all we got is that stupid slip of paper?" Gil spat at the ground.

"At least it's something." Craig said clutching it.

"It makes no sense. What's the 'pinnacle of the top'?" Zen asked.

"I don't know but.....heads up!" Craig ducked as the other two followed his lead.

"S-sorry. We didn't mean to come over this far." Tails landed behind them.

"Find anything?" Zen asked.

"Not a crumb." Sora mumbled.

Gil pushed Zen away from the others.

"Are you crazy?" He whispered. "We just saw that...thing... fly above us at Mach 2, and all you can ask is 'Found anything?'"

"Unlike you I mind my own business." Zen narrowed his eyes. "And I don't think you should go around calling a living breathing creature a thing."

"You're right....but still.....aren't you a little bit creeped out?"

"Why? It's kind of cool when you think about it. Besides we really have to get back to the exercise." Zen dragged Gil by the tail back to where the others were.

They hardly noticed the two even left.

"You're joking. You pulled one over on Salah-Ka?"

"It wasn't easy. I thought she was going to cream us! Did you guys find anything?"

"Just this." Craig gave the sheet of paper to Tails.

"Your contact is the pinnacle of the top. Cool."

"Why? Who is it?" Sora asked.

"I think it might be someone from the Ta'Ka." Tails scratched his chin. "It makes sense to me anyway."

"I guess it makes sense..." Craig said. "But now we have to deal with Team A."

"Team A....." Sora smiled darkly. "I hope Dane's in it. Revenge would be sweet."

"Than we can forget it." Craig said. "We need someone we can keep under control. Anybody else?"

"Don't have a clue." Zen sighed. "Although I'd like one."

"You do realize that another team is after US don't you?" Tails noted. "Since it isn't Team A it's either Team B or Team D."

"We don't know whose on any team! We were just thrown in this." Gil mumbled.

"You just stated something so obvious, it actually made you dumber." Zen wondered why he was related to this bag of sludge next to him.

"We've got one last option." Sora calmed them down. "We can always call Brent-Ka for help."

"I don't want to resort to that just yet." Tails said.

"He's right. From the way it sounded we can only do that once. We might need some help getting out of here later but right now we need to get somebody from Team A." Zen said.

"I take it we need to split up again?" Craig asked.

"Why even ask? I mean you know it's coming. Same groups." The 3 in the first group ran for it before Sora or Tails could say anything.

"Ha! We pulled another one down their eyes!" Gil smirked.

"Think again. You forgot to turn this thing off." Tails' voice came from the radio.

Zen switched the radio off.

"What good is this going to do if we keep splitting up?!" Craig asked.

"Tails and Sora are quicker than us. They'd be able to find another team and get back here in no time flat."

"That's not the only reason is it?"

"Well guys, here's my plan for 'work'. We wait for them. Gil, cut the deck." Zen smirked and threw a deck of cards to his brother.

"Yeah, you guys are evil." Craig smiled. "Deal me in."

"See anything?" Tails asked Sora as she looked down.

"We've got a group in orange jumpsuits. Looks like...heh..this is a good one. I can see Cume."

"I'll land a few buildings ahead of them. Get Cume and check what group he's in."

"It'll be a cinch."

They landed behind one of the many squares that acted as buildings and waited.

"So I'm telling you they were all serious. We really are trapped! This isn't an exercise!" Cume flailed his wings around.

"Yeah, uh huh." The others walked on ignoring him.

"No really! It's...erk!" A paw closed around his beak and dragged him off.

"Yeah, uh huh." The others continued on.

Tails waited until they were out of sight and let his paw off Cume's beak.

"What group are you in?"

"Uhhh..." The duck seemed a bit disoriented. "Team C...I think."

"You can't be in Team C! We're Team C!"

"What Team are you supposed to capture?" Cume asked.

"Someone from Team A. Is it you?"

"No, but we were supposed to capture somebody from Team A!"

"This is insane!" Tails smacked his forehead. "The Ka Masters pulled another one on us!"

"Why what is it this time?" Sora asked.

"There are no "teams" that's all a ruse. I guess...but that doesn't make any sense.....wait a sec....Cume did you get any clues about the contact?" Tails asked.

"Oh, um...yeah. A few." Cume cleared his throat.

"All right. If we really are all on the same page here, than we should work together. Which way did your team go?"

"That's all right. Just follow me and I'll flag them down." Cume ran ahead doing that.

"What's up?" the team members gradually came back.

"We got two from Team C!" Cume yelled and faster than Tails or Sora could react they were pinned to the ground.

"Not half bad Cume." One of the members, an elk laughed. "How'd you pull that one off?"

"How else? I told the 'truth'." Cume laughed also. "Sorry guys. We found the sheet with the team colors on it and well...thanks to my genius..."

"Great...so what team are you?" Tails struggled to get up to no avail.

"Team D." The elk smiled. "And you were our target. We might get extra credit for bringing both of you in."

"Dirty rotten liar." Sora grumbled at Cume.

"Don't even think of trying anything loudmouth. The same goes for you, ya two tailed freak." One of the mice in the team spat at them.

"...." Tails gave an angry look at the mouse.

"Ohhh...it's mad. What are ya gonna do, scream?" The elk laughed

The kitsune continued to stare at his captors.

"Yeah, that's cute. It might not be anything worth getting after all we have a freak and a hotheaded orphan."

"My parents are still alive jerk." Sora narrowed her eyes.

"You're disowned so that little fact doesn't help you any!"

"You're laying it on a little too thick Trask. Give 'em a break." Cume helped Tails up.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get this exercise over with." Trask pulled Sora up. "Now who's the contact?"

"I don't know." Sora stuck her tongue out.

"Forget it than. We've got the hardest part done." Trask turned around. "Now it's just get a slip of paper and leave."

Tails and Sora were forced to march along with the others.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all. Not at all.

===

RETROSPECTIVE

It's past midnight, and I'm still bored

===

This was actually one of my favorite chapters. I know it lacked a lot of things the other chapters had, but I kinda like the exercise, the terminology, and I keep thinking how utterly awesome it would be to do this sometime.

Sora's mad. She's always mad. I came up with a background to suit her madness. And it ties in more with the story than I could have ever hoped for. It gives her motivation, develops her character and is depressing all in one blow.

Zen and Gil. Bleh. Does the world need another pair of idiot brothers that barely tie into the storyline? Apparently so. In case you're wondering, and you're not, Zen and Gil were the names I gave Zidane when playing through FF-9 the first two times. Never beat it either. My brother's a memory card hog. Seriously though I have to put up with "Zen" every single day of my life. It's not pretty folks. He's 22, thinks he's all that and....ARGHH! Sorry, you didn't come here to read about my life.

Trask. Trask is evil. Trask is cool. Trask is cool BECAUSE he's evil. And he's evil for the sole fact he is cool. Never ending paradox.

No witty end line. I'm tired.


	9. Even Anthropomorphic Sidekicks Screw Up

"They've got themselves in quite a mess." Brent shook his head.

"They still have a chance to escape." Tyson looked down upon them from the roof.

"Maybe if they had a little push in the right direction.....but otherwise they're toast." Brent turned around.

"I take it you're going to be that 'push'?" Tyson asked.

"Nope. I'll leave that up to the other 3....but just to be safe..." Brent turned on his radio to the others. "You guys have a problem." He started talking into it.

---

"I told you it wouldn't do any good to split up." Craig started rushing in the opposite direction.

"You can't be serious! We have to focus on getting them back we can't take them all at once!" Zen caught up with him.

"Would you believe I have a plan?" Craig continued to run towards where Brent told them Team D was heading.

"Better than anything Gil came up with I hope."

"Yep. It involves taking them all on at once."

"....That's pointless."

"It's our best bet."

"Good point....Gil! Get yourself over here! We have work to do!" Zen yelled.

"Heh. A student of Brent-Ka's and you can't even fight back." The mouse that sneered at them earlier kept pushing Tails. "What a joke. You're no Ka Master you're a deformed little wimp."

"Would you just shut up?" Cume thwacked the mouse in the head. "Sorry about that. He doesn't like it when people are better than him."

"Why in the world are you with these guys Cume?" Tails asked.

"Easy A. Trask is one of the best students at the Academy."

"Yeah? Well so is Dane and he's a jerk.....Trask is too."

"Comparing Trask to Dane is like comparing a crimelord to a purse snatcher. Trask's been before the Ta'Ka on all accounts everything from unauthorized fighting to vandalism."

"Why isn't he expelled?"

"His grandpa is on the Ta'Ka and also one of the nicest guys you've ever met....except for the fact he won't believe his grandson organized an underground sparring tournament. 3 students got seriously injured that week too." Cume shook his head.

"Thanks for getting that mouse off my back." Tails smiled. "You're the only normal one he-"

He was cut off as he saw who was before them.

"You're kidding me." Trask laughed from the front of the line. "A rabbit that barley comes up to my chest and 2 idiot brothers? This is the best plan you could come up with?"

Sure enough, Craig, Gil, and Zen were standing in attack pose with their Ka Staffs ready.

Trask sighed. "Alright let's just get this over with." He readied his Ka Staff.

Craig smiled and entered Drive.

Zen and Gil began a furious battle pattern at the other 4.

By now Sora had gotten the hint and had already entered Drive using Raining Swing on the mouse that mocked them a few minutes ago.

Tails, freed from his captors also started attacking entering Drive and dashing towards the 3 enemies.

"What in the world?" One of the 3 started to laugh. "You don't stand a chance with that form! What a...ahh!!" The speaker fell over unconscious as the staff found it's target straight in the stomach.

Trask looked behind him. "Idiot. He could have seen that coming from a mile away." The elk stepped to the left as the ground thundered to the right of him and jumped up as the ground began to give a slight shake all around him.

"Quake Swing followed by a 4 Way Quake Swing. Sloppy and inefficient." Trask said coming down hard on Craig's head with his training staff.

Sora had already taken out the mouse and Zen and Gil had Cume trapped in a corner and had taken care of the last remaining member also.

"If you haven't noticed yet, it's 3 against one." Sora smiled darkly.

"Like I should care." Trask quickly raised his staff above his head to block the Raining Swing that came. "Old tricks that's all you have."

Tails entered Drive once more.

"What is this time?" Trask snorted. "Another Heavy Swing? A 4-Way Mirage Swing?....Or maybe...."

Tails thrust out the staff flipping it horizontally.

Trask leaped up into the air and struck Tails' staff from above knocking it out of his hands.

"Radical Drive. Brilliant move, but easily countered." Trask laughed as he landed. "Face it you twerps, I know EVERY SINGLE move you can possibly make with those stupid staffs of yours!"

"Really?" Tails curled up into a ball.

"HA! That's smart. See? He knows he can't.....AGHHGHHHH!" Trask was blown over by Tails dashing directly into him.

"What in the world was that?!" Sora's jaw dropped.

"Told ya I hung out with Sonic." Tails smiled getting back up. "I learned a few tricks along the way." He looked over at Zen and Gil who still had Cume cowering in the corner. "Let him go. He can't do anything to all 5 of us."

"Good point. C'mon Gil..." Zen said as the two slowly backed off.

"What about Trask?" Craig asked looking down at the unconscious shadow that was the talented elk.

"He'll be out of it for a while." Tails picked up his training staff from the ground.

"Not halfway bad. Better than anything I did." Craig rubbed his head. "Crap, that hurt."

"C'mon we still need to find someone from Team A." Zen turned around.

"And quickly..." Brent's voice came from the radio. "You have noon tomorrow and that's IT. Don't think you can call me anymore, that info was your one shot."

Tails flicked off his radio.

"Well that's peachy. What now?" Gil flopped down.

"Get up! We have to go already!" Zen pulled him up by the tail.

"Wait just a sec..." Sora rummaged through Trask's pockets. "Perfect! This sheet has all the team colors on it." she waved the paper around. "And Team A's is green.....huh...I'm really starting to love Deus Ex Machina."

"Great! I'll track 'em down." Tails flew into the air. "Call ya back on the radio when I found them so keep yours on." He said to Zen.

Zen nodded. "Hopefully we can get through this night in one piece."

Tails flew off in search of Team A.

"Have fun out there Sora?" Gil tried to stifle a laugh.

"And what exactly do you mean by THAT?!" Sora thwacked him in the head.

"Nothing." Gil cowered in fear.

"Nothing what?" Sora's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing, ma'am" Gil sighed.

"And don't you get any funny ideas either!" She swung her glance towards Zen.

"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry my brother suggested anything ma'am." Zen stood straight up.

Craig burst out laughing.

"That's incredible! Sora you really now how to organize things!"

The vixen now changed her glance to him.

"I mean...waiting for further orders ma'am." Craig also stood straight up.

"Relax Craig none of that applies to you." Sora giggled. "That was just to freak you out."

"Well it worked." Craig smiled and relaxed.

"But don't think YOU GUYS are out of the woods." She motioned towards Zen and Gil.

"Of course not ma'am." The two brothers said in unison.

---

Erek wasn't too happy. 5 miserable hours and not a single clue or even a hint that Team B was somewhere near them. He also didn't notice that while he was complaining about everything, he had fallen behind.

"Just peachy." The purple hedgehog mumbled.

He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A flying orange....something...it was really small.

"Hope you're a clue!" He followed it to where it landed and picked it up. "What the?! This thing's a robot."

"This just gets easier every time." A laugh came from nowhere.

---

"Well look what the fox dragged in!" Craig smiled as Tails and a bound Erek came up to the main group.

"Heh...a little rope and a mini-bot can do wonders." Tails chuckled bringing them both into the center.

"Ah, it was an okay move." Erek mumbled. "I shouldn't have fell for it....or at least put up more of a fight. I never saw that Mirage Swing coming."

"That's the point of it." Tails smirked.

Zen came over and looked at the captured student.

"Not bad at all Prower. Any ideas on how to get out of here now?"

"We're in luck." Tails took the radio off his belt and threw it to Zen. "I managed to pick up a few signals from the Ka Masters. The contact is Roddis-Ka."

"Pinnacle of the top 'eh? Makes sense. Okay let's go for it." Zen motioned for the others.

"We still don't know where he is." Tails warned. "And if another group meets up with him first we can't pass."

"Minor details."

"Only if you're sure we can make it."

"Of course I'm sure! The only possible team left is Team B. We just have to beat them there."

"Don't look at me, I can't fly you all there and if I did one at a time it'd take forever!"

"We'll go on foot than. Just hop the fence and get out. Simple as that."

"He's right." Sora said. "Someone like Roddis-Ka will undoubtedbly be out by a fire especially tonight. We just have to follow the smoke."

"I don't know." Tails scratched the back of his head. "You know all of these exercises have some sort of twist to them."

"That's true but what if someone else exhausted that twist already?" Craig asked.

"That's a big if." Tails said.

"You have a point. We're gonna fail if we just march up there. Maybe if we tried passing ourselves off as the Ka Master themselves... Maybe I could play Sharpear. See I'm hearing things, I'm hearing things." Gil dragged Erek along with them to the fence.

"Gil, I'm gonna say something I never expected to say to you...stop thinking." Zen sighed and started climbing the fence. "That's funny. It's not barbed wire it's just...wire.......copper?"

"That's odd..." Tails thought for a second. "Crap! All of you c'mon we've gotta get over this thing NOW!"

"What's wrong?" Zen asked climbing over the top wire.

"They know we're leaving."

A light started flashing in the main shed.

---

"Got the signal. Another team's trying to get over." Salah stood up and pushed her chair in abandoning her chess match with Sharpear.

"We've already blown it three times tonight. Do you know how embarrassing that is?" Sharpear asked.

"Don't make it worse Sam." Salah dashed out the door. "You two got it?" She called to Brent and Tyson who were talking by the door.

"Just now. Any idea who it is?" Brent joined her in running.

"Judging by that little stunt that was pulled on Trask, and given the teams remaining...it has to be Team C or Team A."

"Let's go for it than." Brent got his Ka Staff ready.

"Haven't they already failed anyway?" Tyson asked.

"We can't afford to take any chances." Salah said. "They're not the only ones being graded."

"Where are they?" Brent turned his head to Salah.

"The light that came on was the one for the far left side." Salah responded. "I just hope we get there in time."

---

Gil and Erek were the last ones to cross over. Erek had to be untied in order to climb the fence but with Gil standing next to him he had no chance to escape.

Once they were over the fence Erek was tied up again and the group waited for news.

Tails landed by them after a minute or two.

"There's smoke to the north. I checked it out. It's Roddis-Ka alright, but...."

"What?" Craig asked him.

"There's a team in yellow jumpsuits almost there. They've got Cume."

"Arghh!" Gil ranted. "We had the chance to knock him out too!"

"What's done is done." Sora shrugged. "We'll just have to head north and pray we get there first."

"Yes ma'am!" The 4 boys saluted.

Erek looked on amused.

It was obvious her cousins were downright afraid of her, and the other two.....

---

"Damn! Not again!" Salah punched the ground.

"Win some, lose some." Brent shrugged.

"Unlike you I care about finishing my job!" Salah yelled back at him.

"Geez, you really can't stand to lose can you?" The white cat smirked.

"Do the words 'salary deduction' mean anything to you?!"

"Um...how much are we talking about?"

"Half." Salah said seriously.

"Arghh! Let's go already!!!" Brent quickly climbed over the fence.

"What? I thought you didn't care."

"Do you honestly think I went 3 years without a dime in my name?"

"How in the world could you get paid?! No one knew where you were!"

"No one except the Ta'Ka." Brent ran off towards the north.

You'll regret letting that one slip out Crayshen, Salah thought to herself.

That had done nothing but confirm her suspicions.

---

"Let's go already!" Sora yelled.

"We're coming, we're coming!" Zen and Gil yelled out in unison flailing their arms.

"Just a bit more, the smoke's getting thicker!" Craig called.

"Where's Tails?" Sora asked him still running.

"He flew ahead with Erek. If we don't get there first he will."

"Forget it." A voice said in front of them. Tails was walking back the other way.

"What are you doing?! We're seconds away from passing!!!" Sora nearly choked him.

"It's over. Team B got there first." Tails sighed..

"What just like that?" Gil stopped running. "It's over?"

"It's over." Tails nodded.

"........FINALLY!" Gil collapsed on the ground and rested his head on a tree.

"For once I agree." Zen did the same.

"What?! You guys can't give up like that! Have some Lateri pride!" Sora threatened them by pointing her training staff at them.

Zen and Gil looked at her blankly.

"Sorry." Craig shrugged and also sat down. "It really is over."

".....Is it? I'm exhausted." Sora fell down flat. "I would prefer if we NEVER had to go through any of that again."

"This was the easy part." Gil said glumly. "Drills are in 2 months."

"How would you know if Drills are hard or not? We enrolled at the same time." Sora mumbled.

"I've heard stories." Gil nodded seriously.

"From Cume." Sora rolled her eyes slowly.

"......Good point.....where did Prower go?" Gil got up and looked around.

"Wha?" Sora got up also. "TAILS! GET OVER HERE!" she yelled loud enough to rattle the ground.

"Arghh!" The boys covered their ears.

---

"This was all my stupid fault...." Tails mumbled.

"It could of been worse. We could've caught you." Brent noted.

"We're right over there. If the exercise went on any longer you would have caught us!" Tails kicked the ground. "All because I didn't want them to attack Cume."

"Life's not easy. That's something you gotta learn. There's choices that can lead to things you can't see."

"Life is out to get us." Tails hung his head a bit. "Everyone last one of us until we're nothing more than depressed idiots wondering the world without a clue."

"Hate to tell you this, but we're optimistic idiots wondering the world without a clue." Brent sat down.

"That's what life is, trying to find what in the world we're supposed to be doing with it. It isn't out to get you, me, or anyone."

"Easy for you to say. You're on life's good side."

"And if you believe that, I have a few things to sell you." Brent smiled. "I've had my share of tough experiences and I'm still getting them." The cat leaned back onto the ground. "Michael told me once that it doesn't matter if life's going your way or not. The point is it's going. You can either stay the way you are right now, complain and waste it or you can use what you've got left."

Tails laughed. "You've gotta be kidding me. This sounds like some advice from some wise old sage, for God's sake you're only 16!"

Brent laughed also. "Well you're only 13 and you already want to know the meaning of life. Isn't that jumping ahead a little?"

The ground seemed to shake slightly.

"Crap, can she yell!" Brent sprang up, covering his ears.

"Better get over there before she blows up the earth." Tails laughed. "Uhh....Thanks Brent-Ka."

"Don't expect deep philosophical conversations. This about as far as that's gonna go." Brent said jokingly.

--

"That was sort of touching." Mason smiled.

".....It was more or less a pack of lies. Michael always said his take on life was always to live it the way it's been handed to you. Idiot. He had the chance to keep it all the same and what'd he do?! Had to increase his power, just so he wouldn't be forgotten." Juro spat at the ground. "The Banelan family will loose whatever power we have left soon enough."

"That's putting Mike in a bad light." The squirrel looked over at the wolf. "And if you ask me it sounds like you're just bitter."

"You're still here aren't you?" The wolf smiled.

"Work is work. It's always a chance to increase your strength, test your abilities. If I can't choose your personality that's fine, as long as I can get more powerful." Mason shrugged.

"Disgraceful." Juro shook his head.

---

"This is probably the worst punishment they could have given us!" Gil muttered.

"Yeah, well we failed what do you expect?" Zen said walking on. "How much farther is it to the Academy?"

"36 more miles." Tails sighed. "And all they left us for breakfast is something Slak-Ka made."

"Bleh." Sora gagged.

"It could have been worse." Craig said.

"How?"

"I have no idea." the tiny rabbit quickly shut up.

"I see a way this whole thing could be better." Tails looked ahead.

"Explain this one." Zen looked at him.

"If I beat all of you there!" Tails started flying off in the direction of the Academy.

"Lame!" Sora started running after him. "We're not all gonna go off chasing after you."

"Speak for yourself.." Craig smiled running also.

The Lateri brothers were left behind.

"So.......should we go after them?" Gil asked.

"Why? It's more food for us." Zen laughed.

"But that's Slak-Ka's cooking."

".............Shut up."

---

RETROSPECTIVE

Written in an endless loop of video game music

---

Seriously. Take "Dr. Cain's Lab" from Mega Man X-3 and play it in a loop. You'll want to throw your speakers out the window.

The deep philosophical conversation thing.....yeah.....See this whole thing is in effect, a giant allegory, but of course you don't know what it means yet, (I've hinted it at it!) So that paragraph had to go in.

The Spin Dash thing with Trask....that was just something I found funny, I'm sorry if it made you all mad for some odd unknown reason.

I really don't have anything to say for this chapter.....

Uh.....

I'm the last remaining Card Master in Elemen!

(Kudos to you who got that.)

Okay now that I'm done with the lame game references, and I have nothing to say until next chapter....maybe I'll just end it here.

Or maybe here.


	10. Never Tick off A Foxgirl

"And the properties of the 4-Way swings involve using speeds and strengths that can only be achieved through mastery of the basic attacks." Tails wrote furiously on a piece of paper. "In other words the 4-Way swings are simply faster versions of their inferiors. The only exception being 4-Way Quake Swing which tends to spread out it's hit radius and weaken the actual impact."

"Do you have to say everything out loud as you write it down?!" Sora mumbled.

"I have to or I wouldn't be able to hear myself." Tails said not looking up. "It WAS your idea to study in the cafeteria."

"This is insane. Hey Sora what's the answer to question 4?" Craig looked over his book.

"In what chapter?" Sora asked.

"The 5th."

"You're still in the 5th?"

"You're PASSED the 5th? When'd you get the Advanced Book anyway?!"

"Just...a... while ago....crap not again!" Sora got up and slammed her book shut putting it quickly into her pack. "I've gotta go see if Tyson-Ka is still up for training. And by the way the answer to number 4 is 'increased momentum'." Sora ran off.

"That makes sense." Craig wrote the answer down. "This would've been a lot easier if we did it last night."

"I did do it last night." Tails chewed on the eraser.

"....Than what are you doing right now?"

"The Completion Essay for Unit 2."

"ALREADY?! You got the Advanced Book only a week ago!"

"Yeah...so did you."

"I'M STILL ON CHAPTER 5!!!"

"Don't take it too hard. That kid that sits in front of you, Tenem? He's still on chapter 3."

"That's sad." Craig closed his book also. "Gotta meet with Samuel-Ka...you already trained today?"

"An hour ago." Tails said still not looking up from his paper.

"Right. See ya Tails." the tiny rabbit dashed towards the exit ignoring the eternal food fight.

"Bye Craig!" Tails called after him.

Might as well wrap things up too, Tails thought shutting his own book and putting it away and dashed for the exit making sure to block any food coming his way.

It was a weekend. There was never anything to do in the makeshift city below so most of the students still hung out in the Academy.

Boredom. Utter boredom, Tails thought miserably to himself. At least now he could curl up with a good book.

"You're Miles Prower right?" A voice came from behind him.

Why was the world always against him taking a rest?!

"May I help you in any way?" Tails turned around to face the speaker.

Great it was a human.

"Actually I was hoping to help YOU out. The name's Troyman." The human smiled.

"Uh huh, and what is it that I need help with?"

"Improving your abilities perhaps? There's a tournament going on in the city..."

"No doubt organized by Trask Amarik. Thanks but no thanks." Tails turned around again.

"Actually Trask-Ka is interested in your fighting abilities."

"Trask-KA?!"

"He may not be a Ka Master officially but we all look up to him as one." Troyman nodded. "This would be a perfect opportunity to brush up on your skills before Drills."

"I'm fine really. I trust my Ka Master enough to prepare me for that."

"Cash prize? Run of your Ka Group? Revenge on a certain ferret?"

"So Dane's managed to play a trick on me, it's not like I hate the guy."

"Yes you do. You know perfectly well what he can do to you, Ias and the orphan."

Tails grasped Troyman by the throat.

"Get it through your thick heads! Sora and Craig, or anyone else for that matter ARE NOT BELLOW YOU."

The human was released and backed up a bit.

"You don't get it. You have the ability to surpass Dane, Trask, even Brent. You continue to pal around with a loudmouth and a shrimp. They're holding you back."

"From what?! Keep the peace! That's the first rule!"

"Strength keeps the peace fox-boy. You want to blow it for everyone when the time comes that's fine, but just know you had this chance." Troyman stormed out of the hallway.

"Just ignore him." A voice said behind Tails. It was Brent.

"Easier said than done." Tails sighed.

"You'd be surprised. If Trask doesn't want to deliver the message personally than he's still scared of you."

"And I'm scared of him."

"Stands to reason but you can handle yourself." Brent smiled. "Believe me, you could take on O-Zero and hardly break a sweat."

"....Was he right?"

"About what? I only caught the last part."

"About Sora and Craig holding me back?"

"And if they do?"

"What good is it if I'm not trying my best?"

"You are TRYING your best, your just not fighting at it. That's a good thing. Everyone has to learn to hold back at one point or another."

"Doesn't that put others in danger?"

"You of all people should know that fights aren't won on strength alone. Even lightweights can grasp victory."

"This is sounding a lot like a deep philosophical conversation again."

"Crap! It's turning into one, run away before it gets worse!" Brent baubled away laughing.

Tails shook his head and smiled.

---

Tyson walked into the Faculty Cafeteria exhausted.

"What's wrong with you?" Slak asked taking a bite of his lunch.

"Ngh. Lateri nearly tore me apart today."

"Stress? Drills are coming up in a little while." Brent had baubled into the room.

"Na, she's mad about something....of course she's almost ALWAYS mad about something."

"Actually I've been meaning to ask you something about Sora." Salah got out from behind the service counter. "Her grades lately have been........slipping."

"How bad?" Tyson raised an eyebrow.

"Really bad." Salah sighed. "I checked with her Primary Tech teacher, she's still on the Basic Book."

"IT'S BEEN FOUR MONTHS!" Tyson looked shocked. "What about her other classes? Properties? Physics?"

"Well to put it lightly....she pretty much sucks at 'em." Salah tried to smile.

"How's her training going?" Brent asked. "This isn't YOUR fault is it?"

"She's been doing well. I think she's got the 4-Way moves down pat." Tyson explained. "She's just a little...shaky in battle patterns."

"How shaky? Battle patterns are a quarter of her grade in Drills."

"As in .1...1..1...1..1.."

"Ahh! Make it stop! That's not a battle pattern that's an outright onslaught!" Slak held his head in mock pain.

"Yeah, I know and it's NOT enjoyable." Tyson sat down and banged his head on the table. "Stupid girl. I can see why Karastil disowned her. More trouble than she's worth."

A sob was heard from outside the room.

"You do know she's been following you for the last month or so." Brent scratched the back of his head.

"Maybe it'll teach her a lesson not to listen in." Tyson mumbled.

"Tyson Fellis! You get out there right now and apologize!" Salah kicked him.

"What for? It was all true!" Tyson got up. "I never wanted an apprentice anyway." He baubled away.

"Wow. He's acting like more of a jerk than you." Salah said to Brent.

"Very funny Snobgirl. Anyway I think one of us should at least...do something for her."

"Why don't you?"

"I'm a jerk remember?"

"Straight forward to the end." Salah smiled. "Don't look at me. I still have to....get the....roast...cooked....oh CRAP!"

Smoke started pouring out from behind the service counter.

"Just get Kura to do it!" Salah ran for the counter and dived behind it.

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

"Actually help would be appreciated. Think Sharpear could catch some fish really quick?"

"I take it there's a slight change in tonight's menu?"

"It's a choice.....fish or charcoal."

---

"I ain't helping the loudmouth." Kura leaned back in her chair. "Get Sharpear to do it."

"He's training with Craig for the next 2 hours." Brent looked over at her. "Look, I've had to put up with hyperactive kids that are way too eager to get through Drills. I just want some rest. And no angsty vixens preferably."

"Have Slak talk to her than."

"Slak comforting somebody?"

"Ketwen?"

"Not a chance."

"......Roddis, Stanson, Atora?"

"Yeah, you know those Ta'Ka. Nicest group of people you've ever met."

"Than just do it yourself! I just can't talk to her without getting the urge to punch her." Kura narrowed her eyes.

"What in the world are you two fighting over?" Brent smirked. "Not a certain otter, I hope?"

"SHUT UP!" Kura thwacked him with her staff. "Besides if I remember right you and Mason never got along for a good reason, and good reason thy name is Salah."

"I can hit back you know." Brent also narrowed his eyes.

"Bleh." Kura stuck her tongue out. "Salah was right, you are a Fatmouth. I'm gonna make your life a living hell for that comment. Watch me!"

"Hey Kura, take a look at this little beauty." Brent threw a pocket watch on the table.

"So what?.....Hmmm? It's just a transparent....very active....watch......." Kura's eyes fixated on the gears working inside.

Brent smiled. That would hold her attention for a few hours, he thought walking out the door. It felt too good of a day outside to keep baubling places.

---

Sora stormed through the hallways half-sobbing, half yelling flailing her arms around hoping to hit something or someone in the process. She didn't notice everyone started hiding in the corner when she walked through.

"S-sora? Are you okay?" Zen noticed her and tried to stop her. "OW!" He was knocked to the ground.

Gil shook his head. "Not today man. She's upset. Of course your unconscious so I don't know why in the world I'm talking to you. I think I like you better this way."

Great, she had nearly killed her own cousin. Cousin? Ha! Some cousin, probably hated her like the rest. Hated her, hated her, hated her.

"That's far enough." Brent grabbed the back of her collar before she could do anything else.

"WHA-WHAT?! I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU, YOU'RE NOT MY KA MASTER!!!" Sora yelled as Brent dragged her outside and down the road that led to the woods. "THE TA'KA WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS! I'LL MAKE SURE THAT STUPID HAT GETS SHOVED DOWN YOUR THROAT!!!"

Brent stopped her a while after they had gotten to the lake.

"Here." He led her to a makeshift hammock.

"What good is this gonna do?!" Sora fumed.

"You need to relax. I know you've got a lot going on in your mind right now, and you need to forget it all for a while."

"...I'm 12 years old!! I don't take naps in the middle of the day!"

"It's the weekend. Lie around a bit." Brent cleared out a small spot in the grass and laid down.

"But..." Sora sighed and tried to get on it.

"Arghh!" The rules of irony stated the hammock must flip over. And so it did.

"Obvious that was gonna happen." Brent smiled.

"Oh shut up!" Sora tried it again. "There I did it see?....Eh. It's like sleeping on a fish net."

"Yeah I hate it too."

"How in the world am I supposed to fall asleep on this?!"

Brent merely yawned completely ignoring her. Sora looked up towards the sky, not that there was much else to do. Blue sky with clouds, stereotypical weather for a unsterotypical day.

"This is stupid."

"I'm sure it is." Brent ignored her.

"No, I mean this is STUPID!'

"Uh huh." Brent nodded.

"You're not listening!"

"I'm listening, I'm just not caring."

"......You ARE a real jerk, Brent-Ka. Tyson was right." Sora smiled and than faded as soon as she realized what she said.

"Not that I'm taking HIS word for it." She mumbled.

"Oh, were you saying something?" Brent titled his head up, and looked over at her.

"Nice try. I know you heard that."

"The part where you said this was stupid, the part where you said this was STUPID, or the part where you called me a jerk?"

"Whatever. Why are you just lying there anyway? Lazy or something?"

"Cats sleep something like 12 hours a day."

"You're an anthro. I don't think that applies."

"Eh, it's good to get back to native roots sometimes." Brent yawned.

"Uh huh..." Sora stated flatly, obviously not believing him.

"Alright already, I'm lazy. Not much else I can do. My student has to take half my paycheck for his own tuition. So it's low budget relaxation."

"You've got a bug on you."

"I've got a damn ant colony on me." Brent swatted at his legs.

"Not so relaxing now huh? Why not lie in the stupid hammock?"

"You know Murphy's 3rd Principal?"

"Uh, no?"

The hammock immediately broke off from the trees sending Sora crashing into the ground.

"That's why. Anything that seems to be going good, will undoubtedly go bad, once you realize the world is quiet. Too quiet." Brent scratched his ear with a claw.

"Variation on Murphy's Law. Cute." The vixen mumbled getting up. "That wasn't exactly restful and I'm still mad."

"Why not take the classic way out and 'prove your worth'?"

"And how would that be done?" Sora sighed bringing her knees up to her chin.

"An illegal tournament in the city?"

"If you KNOW about an illegal tournament why are you encouraging me to join it?!"

"I'm not." Brent smiled. "I'm forcing you to."

"WHAT?!"

"We need an infiltrator. You're here. You know about the tournament. Now skidadle off to the city."

"You....you stuck up hairball!"

"No, Salah was the one who was stuck up. I'm the Fatmouth." Brent waved a paw in victory.

"Fine! Whatever, as long as I don't have to see that moron of an otter." Sora leaped off the hammock and stormed off.

"Just be glad you're not being eaten alive by....whatever things these guys are." Brent called after her.

"Just get some stupid bugspray oh mighty one." Sora walked off into the distance.

"Stupid common sense." Brent mumbled getting back up.

---

Zen finally opened his eyes.

"Um, what happened?" He rubbed his head.

"You got in Sora's way." Craig sighed. "They put you here in the MedCenter.

"We're just here to make sure she didn't break anything." Tails added.

"Where's Gil?"

"Going through your wallet." Tails smiled.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go back to sleep, do me a favor and punch his lights out." Zen collapsed back on the cot and fell asleep shortly after.

"Well he seems fine." Craig turned around.

"What in the world could have made Sora THAT mad?" Tails walked out the door with his friend.

"Don't know. According to the rumor mill, some kid called her an orphan to her face."

"Sora wouldn't try to kill her own cousin over that. Granted if a kid did say that to her face he'd be half-dead, but all the same..."

A great thundering noise was heard down the hallway from the MedCenter.

"What in the world is that?!" Craig folded his ears to his head.

"Either Slak-Ka's finally snapped or that's the reinforcements to the food fight." Tails cringed.

It turned out to be neither.

"Tyson-Ka." The two students saluted in unison as he walked by.

"Stuff it! Just quit it already!" The otter stormed off past them.

"He's lost it too huh?" Brent sighed walking behind him.

"What in the world is going on?" Tails asked.

"We just found out Sora is participating in the illegal tournament down in the city. Tyson's not too happy about it." Brent scratched the back of his head.

"If you know there's an illegal tournament why not stop it?" Craig narrowed his eyes a bit.

"Orders from the Ta'Ka. Apparently they want a couple students to infiltrate it so since you guys are here..."

"WHAT?! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?!" Tails fumed.

"Sorry that's life." Brent walked off.

"You...you stuck up..." Craig started.

"Hairball, I know." Brent answered and vanished into a room.

"Can you believe that?!" The tiny rabbit jumped up and down with rage.

"Hey, it's something to do." Tails shrugged. "C'mon I think I fixed the bauble."

"No thanks. I'll just walk." Craig smiled sarcastically.

---

Salah was now rushing up to the stairs to Roddis' office.

"Great, a burnt hunk of meat, no fish and now a arrogant little mouse wants to boss me around some more." She mumbled to herself. "DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE SOMETHING THEY WANT ME TO DO?!" She yelled to no one in particular. Sometimes it was just good to yell at yourself.

Entering Roddis' office she sat down and waited for the Ta'Ka leader to show up.

"Good morning Miss Eterna." The mouse took his seat at the ornate desk. "I know you've been busy as a Primary Educator especially as of late but it has come to our attention that Tyson and his apprentice...." Roddis looked for a phrase.

"Utterly hate each other at this point?" Salah offered.

"Personally it doesn't make sense. Just yesterday those two were best friends." Roddis shook his head.

"Some things were said sir..." Salah scratched the back of his head.

"Must have been something alright. Now I know this is a going to be a pain for you but we have decided to put Tyson on reassignment for a while to let him cool off. Do you think you could..."

"Take over Sora Lateri's training schedule?"

"Well...yeah. Just until Drills and I'm sure your aware that they're coming in a few weeks." Suddenly Roddis threw himself to the floor and covered his head with his paws.

"I'm up for it." Salah leaned back.

"What?!" Roddis got back up. "No complaining? No shouts of 'Salary increase or die'?!"

"I think Sora needs a little comfort right now. I wouldn't want to deny that for her." Salah got up from her chair.

".....I'm almost disappointed." Roddis smiled.

"I can make it worse ya know." Salah narrowed her eyes.

"Believe me, I know. Well have fun at the tournament today."

"Wait a sec...what tournament?"

"You didn't know?" Roddis asked in wonder. "Brent organized a tournament down in the city today."

"So I take it the 'illegal' label was...." Salah rolled her eyes.

"Poetic license. You know kids. They'll come to anything if it's 'illegal'....thank you for your time Miss Eterna."

"Sure thing..." Salah turned around to face the mouse one last time. "Oh and by the way....I DO expect a salary increase from this."

"It's all been noted."

"Good." The wildcat walked out the door.

---

"This is odd. Trask must really have great organizational skills." Tails looked around at the grounds for the tournament. They were neatly kept and the ring which he had expected to be imperfect and crude was an exact replica of the one on the sparring grounds. Not only that but every one of the 60 contestants had their own makeshift locker room even if it seemed to no bigger than a bathtub.

"This is all a bit overwhelming." Craig took a glance at the bleachers. "There's....a LOT of people here."

"Funny. I don't see Trask." Tails looked closer at the bleachers.

"Maybe he's fighting. Check the charts, who are you going up against?"

Tails looked over at the chart and gulped.

"I-it's Sora."

"WHAT?! There's no way that's chance, Amarik fixed this thing!" Craig looked at the chart for himself.

"It'd be a better idea if this really was illegal." The elk mumbled to Brent.

"Yeah and then you'd have to face the Ta'Ka again. Your grandpa isn't gonna be on it forever." The cat looked down from the bleachers.

"Why have me line the freak and the orphan up?" Trask asked.

Brent hit him with his Ka Staff. "Excuse me?!"

"I mean...why Lateri and Prower?"

"This has nothing to do with fighting. It has more to do with healing some wounds." Brent said.

"Sap." Trask mumbled under his breath.

"Heard that." Brent gave him a death look.

Sora meanwhile was in one of the preparation rooms, not a locker room but more of a meeting place where contestants could talk and eat. This one was reserved for her and a few others.

"I-I don't know if I can do this." Sora said in a quiet voice.

"What's the matter?" Gil asked. He was dragged along into this to avoid the same fate as Zen.

"Did you look at the charts?!"

"No. What do they.." Gil looked over at them and burst out laughing. "That's incredible! This has hilarity written all over it. I LAUGH AT IT! HA!"

"What's so hilarious about it?!! I don't want this to happen!" Sora hit him in the head. Gil swore he lost some teeth.

"I.........meant..................it's a bad thing." Gil cringed. "Sorry, sorry don't hurt me."

"I should do a lot worse but you're in luck it's kind loveable me!" Sora spat at him. "Now shut up and encourage me about the stupid battle already!"

"Why should I do that?"

"Duh! I'm worried about it, you're supposed to comfort me and than I win!"

"Okay, don't worry about it than?" Gil ventured.

"Forget it!" Sora stormed off to her locker room.

---

"Miles Prower..." An attendant called out to him from inside the preparation room he and Craig were assigned to. "You're up."

"Wish me luck." Tails got up.

"Wish ME luck. I gotta go against Dane." Craig shuddered.

"Honestly, maybe these fights are fixed." Tails dashed out into the ring.

---

"Sora Lateri!" A voice knocked on the door of her cramped locker room. "Up and at 'em!"

"Coming!" Sora yelled back. This was it. Now if she could just finish it.

---

"Match Eight: Miles Prower vs. Sora Lateri." A voice called out from the center. "Refereeing is...." The attendant looked down at the list for the day's referees. "Brent Crayshen!"

That caused quite a stir in the crowd. Brent's false reputation was still prevalent.

Trask looked down from his private spot on the bleachers. Stupid fleabag coming in and taking over HIS work, HIS tournament. Granted now it was legal but all the same....At least he agreed with this fight. No matter who won, one of those idiots would be punished in the end. He caught some murmurs of the crowd below him.

"I thought this thing was illegal."

"Guess not. Maybe Trask's lost his nerve."

Ha, ha. Very funny Brent-Ka. Probably paid 'em 20 bucks just to say that in front of him.

He hoped that at least one of those morons down in the ring would be hurt.

It would really improve his day.

"What in the world is going on?!" Sora looked over as Brent took the referee's podium at the end of the ring.

"Illegal my footpaw! You organized this whole thing!" Tails yelled at him.

"Sorry." The white cat shrugged.

"Whatever. You ready to pay Prower?" Sora twirled her staff.

"Pay for what?! Why in the world do you still want to fight?" Tails backed up.

"You're here right? Than I blame everything on you!" Sora dashed into the center, her training staff twirling.

"Sora, this is ridiculous. You don't have to....Ahh!" Tails was thwacked hard in the chin.

"C'mon aren't you the great student of Brent-Ka's? Suck it up and fight already!" The vixen sneered.

"Fine, but your gonna get hurt!" Tails narrowed his eyes and entered Drive.

"Too late for that. Like I said I blame you for everything. You're here. You're the scapegoat." Sora entered Drive also. "Everything. The reason Tyson hates me is because of you!!!" Her rage started to build as she blocked the blows coming in from the furious swings that were coming at her from all sides.

"This doesn't make any sense Sora! What in the world did I have to with any of it?" Tails leapt back a bit for more room.

"Nothing, but I told you already. You're HERE. You're the scapegoat because you're HERE. If it was Craig or Trask that was here they'd be blamed." Sora entered Drive again and aimed a Heavy Swing straight for Tails' chest.

"This is downright insane!" Tails blocked the blow. "I'm only "here" because they told me and Craig we'd be infiltrating the tournament."

"I don't doubt that. Obviously a slick little trick to get us in this fight. Well I'm glad it worked!" Sora swung straight for his head.

"Sora please can't we talk a little abo-" With a odd mix of a clunk and a ding ringing in the air, Tails was suddenly on the ground. Thinking it was a Mirage Swing he had defended his chest again, he had no way to tell what it was truly because of his focus on the conversation

"So what do you think of that?!" Sora spat at him.

No response.

"Yeah I can tell what you're trying to do. Playing the victim so I'll let my guard down, or I'll feel sorry for you later. Forget it!" She yelled.

Still no response.

"It's not fooling anybody!" Sora prodded him with her staff.

"The winner by knockout is Sora Lateri." Brent stepped down from the podium and talked with one of the attendants.

"There see I won! Give it up already!"

The attendants were suddenly rushing in with a stretcher.

"You really knocked him for a loop kid." One of them smiled at her.

"Wha....oh dear God....." The realization of what just happened sunk in.

"Well Sora, you got your revenge on the person that was the source of your problems. He doesn't look like he's hurt bad but you can expect to see him in the MedCenter for a day or two. Congrats. You advance in the tournament." Brent nodded at her.

"You....you knew this was gonna happen!"

"More or less." Brent shrugged. "I knew Tails wouldn't fight you much."

"But....he's....."

"Fine. If he wasn't gonna be knocked out it would've been you on that stretcher. Relax the MedCenter staff are experts."

"Relax? RELAX?! I JUST NEARLY KILLED MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO RELAX??!"

"You didn't nearly kill him, you just knocked him unconscious."

"If this was supposed to teach a stupid lesson, what was it?!"

"To make you realize that there's people in the world who still care about you. Tails didn't want to fight you at first because you're his friend. Even when you provoked him he still held back. Don't blame everything on Tyson he's worried about you."

"Couldn't you know....tell me that?!" Sora held her paws out.

Brent frowned. Again with the common sense. Obviously she didn't see how things worked in his mind.

"Well....right the message of the thing. People still care. Even Tyson."

"I know that...." Sora's eyes dropped. "I'm the one that blew it not him. I'm the one who followed him, I'M the one who failed my classes....that's it! Starting tomorrow us two are gonna train like crazy!"

"That's more like it. You gonna stick with this tournament thing?"

"Why? I don't have to prove anything else today. I just beat the best student in the Academy!" Sora laughed and walked off the field.

---

"What the hell happened?" Tails rubbed his head, still sitting on one of the beds in the MedCenter.

"Well to be honest, Sora kicked your butt." Craig shrugged.

"I felt bad so I decided to give you this." Gil handed him something.

"Isn't this Zen's wallet?"

"Yeah." Gil laughed.

"How'd you guys do in the tournament?"

"Won out against Dane, got creamed by Gil here." Craig sighed.

"And I lost against some guy who's been studying techs for 4 years." Gil smirked.

"It's been a less than productive day." Tails sighed. "Must've been one of those 'learn by example' things."

"Oh believe me it was." Sora walked into the room. "Umm...sorry about all that. Some things were said earlier this morning and....it kind of drove me off the deep end for a little while."

"I'd say it's okay but it's not." Tails fell back on the bed. "Nonetheless, and I don't know why, I forgive ya. How far did you get?"

"I quit after that match."

"Sora! You could've probably won the whole stinking thing!"

"Well duh I know that, but there's this thing, it's called a conscience and it sort of nags at you." Sora smiled. "Besides it wouldn't have been any fun if I couldn't rub it in your face."

"Honestly, I don't know how you can take it Gil." Tails smirked.

"I can't." Gil mumbled and than caught a death look from his cousin. "I mean it's an incredible joy to have Miss Sora as a relative." He nearly saluted.

The other three burst out in laughter.

"I gotta go meet with Tyson-Ka. See ya guys!" Sora dashed off.

Hope he's cooled down enough. Sora thought. She ran to the otter's room and knocked.

"Come in." Tyson's voice came from outside the door.

"T-tyson-Ka?" Sora edged the door open.

"Oh, uh. Hi Lateri." Tyson scratched the back of his head. "Look what I said this morning....well it was wrong."

"Nah. You were right. I am more trouble than I'm worth." Sora smirked. "What's with the travel bag? Going on another exercise with us?"

"No." Tyson sighed and sat down on his bed. "Sora, I've been reassigned." He finally delivered, showing the blue bandanna that was now on his arm

"Wh-..." Sora nearly collapsed from shock. "But the.....I mean........what's going on?!"

"The Ta'Ka think I've been too stressed."

"So they're sending you out to do more work?!"

"It doesn't make sense to me either. Listen, you're training's still gonna go on with Salah, and I'll be back within a month or so just a few days before Drills. Think you can handle it?"

"You know who you're talking to? I'm the great Sora Lateri." the vixen gave off an exaggerated smile and hugged the otter. "Be seein' ya Tyson-Ka."

"Oh geez! Uh, I'm not too good at this sorta thing. Get off already!" Tyson laughed. "C'mon I mean it!" He finally managed to pry her off. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"Training with Salah Eterna? I'll have her so wiped out she'll be begging the Ta'Ka to get you home early." Sora spun her staff.

"Please don't carry that threat out. You're waaayyy too capable of doing that." Tyson backed up a bit.

"Just a joke." Sora scratched the back of her head.

===

RETROSPECTIVE

Anyone know how to get earwax off of headphones?

===

A chapter in almost all of Sora's view. Believe it or not, I loved just about every second of it. I learned a lot about her just doing that and I'm probably gonna do it for Craig sometime. You see here's the deal. I didn't create these characters, they made themselves. I'd start with the basic stereotype but eventually they started to take on a very unexplained life of their own. (Of course when I went to Vgmusic.com and started searching for theme songs for them, that could of helped) All the same it's been a blast working with them, and I hope they'll continue to surprise me.

Yeah, Trask is pretty dark, but he was kinda upset about having his reputation torn down by a new kid with a mutation. I think you might be too.

Brent had somewhat of an omnipresence in the chapter. Maybe he was a little too...._mentorish_. I dunno. It's served it's purpose.

So if I leave you with one thing today it's this.

The Wild Arms 2 opening was a complete rip-off. Anime sequences my nonexistent tail.


	11. Charachter Devolpment! Becuase Action is...

Brent woke up and decided that it was going to be a bad day.

Nothing in particular had happened, no weird events, no freaky dreams, it was just going to be a bad day, plain and simple.

__

Any reason for it to be bad? The scant remains of his optimism tried to cheer him up. _I mean c'mon everything's perfect, nothing scheduled for today, it's a weekend so a few hours of training but no classes. Why don't you just take a hike or bauble somewhere interes--_

Before his mind could process any more thoughts, someone wearing a blue bandanna walked past his open door.

He didn't know who it was, it didn't matter, but the bandanna was enough to tell him something.

This was going to be a really bad day.

He didn't argue with himself after that.

---

Guard Wing had arrived.

The Academy was one of the few gathering places for Ka Masters, and probably the most well known. Animals and humans of all shapes and sizes proudly marched down the halls trying to intimidate the kids who as usual could've probably cared less.

"Show-offs." Sora muttered as the parade of soldiers walked passed her, Craig and Tails.

"Ah, let 'em have a little glory." Tails cracked his back. "They're the ones busting their guts out."

"Guard and Advance Wings haven't had a mission in 3 years." Craig looked up, his eyes clouded over with boredom.

"And how do you know that?" Tails eyes shifted over to the rabbit.

Craig's eyes immediately snapped back to their normal selves. "Samuel-Ka told me. That's all."

"What about Advance Wing?" Sora folded her arms.

"Daroun Conflict." Tails' started in a deadpan voice. "First and foremost the Ka Masters are a peace keeping force. Advance Wing was sent to guard a convoy of supplies in some country I can't pronounce near it's capital, Daroun. Guerilla fighters ambushed 'em. Advance Wing crushed them."

"Okay, I've been raised in a family that whose job that is. How come you knew about that, and I didn't?" Sora looked over at him.

"Maybe if you actually did half your reading assignments...." Tails smiled and was greeted with a clonk on the head from Sora's staff.

"Why are they all coming here anyway?" Craig looked at the still forthcoming army.

"Meeting time and reassignment." Slak walked up from behind them.

"For the whole Wing?! All right, maybe Tyson-Ka'll be back a few weeks earlier!" Sora cheered.

"....For select divisions." Slak finished. "This is the day they add and take away. Like I should care."

"Passed up weren't you?" The vixen stifled a laugh.

"Watch it, until you're out of here, I have some sort of seniority." The rat walked past them.

"When you put it that way, you almost want to feel sorry for the guy." Tails looked after him.

"Hey he didn't get chosen that's his fault." Craig shrugged.

The three continued to stand there.

"We're at an all time low aren't we?" Tails looked around.

"Lower." Sora sighed and hung her head a bit.

---

"Bleh." Salah poked at her gyro with a fork.

"Tired from training with Sora?" Brent asked with a smile.

It faded when she looked up at him.

"Double bleh." Salah went back to prodding the wrap.

"I always thought you liked those things, Miss Eterna." Mason baubled into the room.

"She's beat. Give her a break." Brent put his head down. "Ngh. This is catching."

"I take it Juro's gonna show up and demand the NFE data?" Salah looked up at the squirrel.

"No, Michael's got him pretty busy at the moment." Mason smiled.

"WHAT?!" Salah immediately perked up and almost choked Brent. "YOU NEVER TOLD ME HE WAS STILL ALIVE!"

"I told you, I found something. It was him!" Brent got up from the table quickly.

"I thought you were talking about O-Zero!"

"Nope. You guessed wrong Snobgirl." Brent gave a sarcastic smirk.

"Don't talk to Miss Eterna that way." Mason looked over at the white cat.

"Oh what do you know? And stop saying 'Miss Eterna' you don't have an accent and you're not tricking anyone. Besides I'm pretty sure you're along the lines of pure evil. You're the one who convinced Taraku about the NFE."

"How was I supposed to know all that would happen?!" The squirrel retreated a bit. "At least I don't go around insulting people."

"It's an inside joke Mason." Salah calmed him down.

"Not a very funny one." Mason grumbled.

"Why? It does do me justice, or at least does justice to who I was." Salah narrowed her eyes. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't try to provoke my friends."

"Even this evil flea magnet?" A paw was pointed towards Brent.

"More or less, I really couldn't care whether my friends are bags of failed genetics." Salah folded her arms. "As for you, Mason, I can never forgive you for what happened to Taraku."

"Taraku volunteered. It wasn't my fault Vale messed things up." Mason countered.

"But it was you who convinced everyone the NFE was complete and safe when you didn't know what would happen." Brent stood in a attack pose. "It was your fault for Taraku's transformation. Not only that but you also convinced Michael to take that stupid O-Zero mission."

"I was paid well." Mason shrugged. "Very well. Not everyone liked Michael Banelan."

Brent tried to lunge forward but caught his footpaw on a chair dragging him down to hit the floor with a loud 'thud-crank' sound.

"Agile." Mason smirked. "Well if you'll excuse me, I popped in to say "Hello" to Salah. I should really get back to Juro before he kills himself." The squirrel baubled away.

"I can see the insults running through your mind right now. Sit down. Have a gyro." Salah offered.

"Bag of failed genetics?" Brent got up, created a bauble and stepped into it.

"More for me then. Just wish I was hungry." Salah put her head back down level with her plate and continued to poke at her breakfast.

"And so Dane had this hamburger he was ready to throw at some unsuspecting sap, when Slak-Ka came in, saw decided to blame somebody for no particular reason and since Dane still had the food in his hand, he was drug off to the Ta'Ka's lab, where I heard they're actually injecting foodaphobia into his mind." Cume flailed his wings wildly as he spoke.

"That was just about the worst one yet." Sora sweatdropped. "What happened Tails?"

"Slak-Ka chose somebody randomly, it happened to be Dane, he has detention." Tails sighed.

"I liked my version better." Cume mumbled.

"But it was a filthy pack of no less than....4 lies?" Craig counted on his paw.

"3, actually" Cume scratched the back of his head.

"Uh huh. By the way it's called 'Sitophobia.' Sora smiled and yawned. "Crap, Salah-Ka really pushes you. I need a rest."

"You hardly did anything! You argued with her for 3 hours straight!" Tails looked at her.

"I got my battle patterns in."

"Enough for Drills?"

"Relax. Drills are in a month or two. Plenty of time for practice."

"Actually I'm not worried about Drills....it's the Battle Royale that scares me." Craig shuddered.

"I heard that everyone who loses the Battle Royale have to stay on for 3 more semesters." Cume slowly fluttered his wings, but they moved faster as he started to say more. "What's worse is that if you fail it two times, there's this whole thing with a radioactive tapeworm....."

"Enough!" Sora clonked him on the head. "The Battle Royale seems kind of pointless to me. Isn't one of the rules, 'Trust your friends no matter what.'? Than why have us fight each other?!"

"Test of your skills, I guess." Craig yawned and leaned back in his chair. "Nyeh. Nothing to do today...again."

"I suppose we could go hiking." Tails offered.

"Not if you knew half the stuff that's in the woods." Cume started to flap his wings again. "I heard this one time a group of kids went out like that and they just happened to have a salami loaf with them....."

"DON'T EVEN START!" All 3 of the friends yelled at the duck before he could continue.

"I guess hiking wouldn't be so bad." Sora scratched her chin in thought. "At least it would give us something to do."

"Fine. Just...." Cume started.

"Say one word about salami and you won't be flapping those wings for a long, long time." Sora looked over at him.

"Aha! Onward!" Sora stepped in her over-exaggerated march she saved for her "leadership" roles.

"Do you honestly have to do that every half-mile?" Craig sighed.

"Dramatic effect. Do we have to go over this again?!" Sora laughed.

"Maybe we should take a break. I don't think Cume's taking it too well." Tails looked behind them.

The duck was racing frantically to get back up, flailing his wings at every step.

"I SAW SOMETHING MOVE IN THAT LAKE!!!" He yelled finally catching up.

"Yeah, those would be called 'fish'." Sora thwacked him in the head. "Maybe we should just turn back."

"Uh, yeah. Maybe this whole hiking thing wasn't such a good idea." Tails started to dart his eyes back and forth.

"Are you hiding something?" Sora looked over at him.

"N-no. Of course not."

"Yeah, you are. That's okay I understand. Don't blab it to the loudmouth right?" Sora stuck her muzzle in the air.

"No. It's nothing like that....okay yeah it is...but it's really not that important anyway." Tails scratched the back of his head.

"I bet I know!" Cume started flailing his wings. "Michael and Juro Banelan got in a fight around the lake, you and Brent-Ka met them when training, and now you're worried about running into them."

Tails jaw dropped. "How...?"

"Word spreads fast." Cume smiled and walked ahead.

"That? There's nothing worth blabbing. Except for the fact a supposedly dead Ka Master is alive." The vixen tapped her chin.

"Don't even think about it." Tails and Craig said in unison thwacking her on the head.

"Oww! That does it. You guys have been hanging around me way too long." Sora mumbled rubbing the top of her head. "Besides it not really that important. It's not like Michael-Ka was some great advanced Ka Master."

"Why does everyone keep repeating that?" A voice came from the side of them. "It's true yeah...but man that kills your ego."

Cume raced back to join them. "All right! A mysterious voice! I always wanted to hear these things."

".....Do the words 'you're an odd duck' sound redundant?" The speaker stepped forward. A gray wolf stepped out similar in appearance to Juro, but his eyes were a much cooler green, and a red bandanna was tied around his wrist. This was no foot solider, he was a member of Advance Wing.

"M-michael-Ka." The 4 saluted nervously.

Tails cleared his throat. "Uh..you are Michael Banelan right?"

"Yep. Salute on instinct huh? Not bad."

"Remind you of anybody?" Sora whispered to Tails.

"You're a Lateri, right?" Michael nodded at Sora. "Something about the way you talk...."

"Um...yes sir."

"Let's see.....that must make your dad....Karastil?"

"Yeah." Sora gritted her teeth.

Michael caught sight of Tails making a cutting motion across his throat.

The wolf quickly cleared his throat. "Uh, 'Tails' right?" He quickly shifted his gaze.

"Yes sir."

"Saw you with Brent, you're not his student are you?"

"I...kind of am." Tails scratched his head.

"HA! Crayshen training somebody! That's a laugh. I'm surprised he even made it as a Ka Master!" Michael doubled over. "He's probably been staying here all nice and comfy slobbering over Salah for the past 2 years."

The 4 exchanged nervous looks.

"Umm..." Cume sucked in his breath. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" Michael said his laughter dying down.

"Tech levels...." Cume was all that he could squeak out of his mouth.

Michael stopped laughing completely, his face growing serious.

"What do you mean?" He asked starting to narrow his eyes.

Craig stepped forward. "It's just a stupid rumor that he's got all these techniques down pat, it's not true."

"....Ever here of anything called the Neo Factor Experiment?" Something in Michael's eyes grew immensly cold. The green eyes had gotten even brighter, but in an extremely menacing way.

"Uh yeah." Tails scratched the back of his head.

"I want you to forget about it. Every word. Got it?" The eyes grew back to their normal color. "So, anything new? Roddis still trying to act like he's in charge?" Michael tried to change the subject again.

"Shh!" Cume started flailing his wings. "Don't let any of the Ta'Ka hear you say that or they'll pin you down to the ground and start pelting you with oranges."

"Huh?" The wolf sweatdropped.

"Roddis-Ka's been a little...." Craig started.

"Relentless." Tails finished.

"Yeah, yeah show off the stupid vocabulary again." The rabbit mumbled.

"Oh come on. Anything more than 3 syllables and your brain turns to mush." The fox rolled his eyes.

"Cool it." Michael looked at both of them shutting them up. "Right, well maybe I'll see you guys again sometime." He started off again. "And Lateri?"

"Yeah?" Sora asked.

"Remind me sometime and I'll kick Karastil's butt for ya." The white wolf baubled away.

"I hope we see him again soon." Sora smiled darkly.

"That's enough violent fantasies for you in one day." Tails laughed. "C'mon let's go back already. I think we just found something to do."

"What?"

"How 'bout confronting a Ka Master for dark secrets?" Tails smirked.

"Huh uh. You heard the guy forget about the stupid experiment." Sora shook her head. "On the other hand, I'm bored out of my mind....Aw let's just go."

"Works for me!" Cume ran back in the direction of the Academy.

"Oh sure NOW he gets an energy boost." Craig laughed.

---

"You've been reading the report files haven't you?" Brent walked over to a table where Salah was reading.

"Ahh!" She nearly threw her book in the air. "Don't do that Fatmouth! Give some warning next time." Salah mumbled.

"Tell me. When'd you read those files?!"

"I CAN'T READ THEM!!"

"You're head of research!"

"Report files are meant strictly for the Ta'Ka no one else. What in the world makes you think I read them?"

"Because you know." Brent narrowed his eyes.

"About the NFE? I was just guessing." Salah shrugged. "I put it all together after you let that whole 'paycheck' thing slide at Training Factor 5. You didn't bolt off suddenly, you were put on assignment. Figures. You were always a cheater."

"Get it through your head!" Brent yelled. "I did NOT use the NFE to learn those techniques! I can't!"

"Oh really?" Salah smirked. "Than tell me why you can't."

"It has nothing to do with tech, but I could still be tearing you into shreds!"

"I thought a moderately strong body can handle it."

"What do you think it is?! It's not just something you can turn on and turn off. It's pure, raw power."

"..." Salah smiled again. "Yeah, uh huh, sure Crayshen just go on believing you're strong. But trust me I didn't read the stupid files."

"What the hell are you smiling for?!" Brent flailed his paws in a huff. "I was wrong. You're still as stuck up as ever. Everything's perfect for you isn't it?!!"

"C'mon Fatmouth. I didn't mean anything. I just found it interesting that you think you're actually strong."

"Fatmouth, huh? That's all you can say?! Well you know what? You were right. You can't appeal with memories."

"What's wrong with you?"

"No, what's wrong with YOU? Oh I know. NOTHING'S WRONG WITH YOU THAT'S WHAT!"

"If you're so mad about it, how come you didn't confront me earlier?"

"Because, I've just been grilled by my student and his dopey friends about it. I owed you a lot Eterna, but you're still bigheaded. Within a day everyone will think 'Crayshen? He's a cheater. Let's drive him out of this place as fast as we can.'.

"I thought you hated it here anyway."

"I do, but I don't want to leave again, Salah. Not again. I didn't want to leave the first time. They made me."

"....Look if this is about what happened a few months ago..."

"That? Who cares about that? Ancient history. Forget the past. And by the way? I'm resigning tomorrow." Brent's gray tipped tail swayed a bit as he turned around and started walking out.

"You won't. You want to see Tails through to the end." Salah went back to reading her book.

He stopped and turned around.

"Yeah, I do, and I don't want to leave, but I'm quitting tomorrow. I'm not gonna be drug through the mud again. You saved me the first time and than you go and bite my head off. I thought you were my friend."

"I didn't tell them anything." Salah said not looking up from the book.

"You let it slip somewhere. Somehow, someway you let it slip."

"You're acting like Sora." Salah gave him an amused look.

"Maybe she has the right idea about things." Brent mumbled. "I guess I was wrong teaching her that little lesson. People in the world don't care about other people, they care about making themselves greater. I thought you were different Salah. I really did." He walked out the door.

Salah continued to read her book in peace. Idiot Fatmouth. What right did he have to go blaming her? She never let anything slip anyway. Besides it was he took the NFE voluntarily. The report file said so. It didn't take much to get by Slak's defenses....If Crayshen wants to go ahead and quit let him! No one's stopping him.

__

You will. You promised, a voice inside her head started up.

Darn morals. Always getting in the way.

__

Don't blame me, the voice started again, _you know what he said is true anyway, you aren't any different from those that seek power_.

Now it was getting plain annoying.

__

And now you're trying to cover it all up! Her mind would not leave her alone. _You're just as bad as Karastil! You're worse!_

Worse? Ha! Of course she was worse. Maybe being worse was all for the better.

Nice try, now get out there and help Snobgirl

Salah slowly put down the book....and smiled.

She knew herself too well.

"I'm never going to finish this stupid book..." She sighed getting up from the chair.

---

Training was different that night. Everything seemed off-beat.

"Are you alright with this?" Tails raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I'm alright with this. It was my idea to have extra training for you." Brent mumbled. "Oh wait, do you think I'm not strong enough to handle it all? Or do you think I'm too strong?!"

"This is about that whole confronting you thing isn't it?" Tails hung his head a bit.

"Yeah. It is."

"You still never gave me a clear answer. Whether it was yes or no."

" All right than. The answer's yes, now why in the world are you still bothering me about it?!"

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO KNOW!"

"WHY?! WHAT GOOD WOULD IT DO YOU TO KNOW?!"

"I was just wondering if I could learn all those techs without the help of the NFE. Apparently you didn't."

"Listen Prower." Brent started to hiss. "Techniques have nothing to do with the NFE. The Neo Factor is nothing but trouble. It is power in it's purest form. It's strength not tech. I've worked my butt off the past 3 years training and now I'm gonna be discredited. It's happening all over again." The cat punched the ground. "You just couldn't leave well enough alone could you?! I took you on as an apprentice because I thought you had skill. I'm the one that taught you all of those techs, I'm the one whose defended you against those other idiots in there who keep calling you a freak, and for what? For you to turn on me and bring my worst nightmare back to life."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Tails asked confused.

"Oh, ANOTHER question to prod into my life 'eh? Why don't you ask Salah? She's the one who gave you the stupid NFE info right?"

"No." Tails shook his head. "We found it before we met Juro down in the lab. There was a cross reference to you in one of the files that involved the NFE. I just kind of put two and two together. Salah-Ka had nothing to do with it."

"So why the sudden questioning?"

"We met Michael-Ka on a hike. He seemed interested about the past.....so we kind of..."

"Filled him in?" Brent seemed to deflate. "I take it you let the whole NFE thing drop than."

Tails nodded.

"I am such an idiot. I'm an over-conceited piece of crap." Brent sunk farther onto the ground. "I take it Michael got a bit...upset."

"He seemed to shake it off fast." Tails tried to add encouragingly.

"......He probably thinks that I'm no different from Juro. That I turned my back on everything he taught me and chose the easy way out." Brent ignored him.

"Just tell him you didn't."

"That's the whole point. I did. I was afraid I couldn't make it as a Ka Master. I thought that maybe if I had a little boost....things would fall into place. It made things worse. The Ta'Ka sent me out on assignment to test the NFE but I went off searching for Michael, in hopes that...I don't know, maybe apologize for all of this?" Brent gave off a weak laugh. "That's pathetic isn't it?"

"Not really. At least that proves you still have some morals left in you."

"It's all too late now." Brent sighed. "I'm quitting tomorrow."

"WHAT?!" Tails backed up a bit in shock. "WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?"

"Easy. I'm gonna be drug through the mud, again. The last thing I want to do is dishonor my name, my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather...all down the tube."

"You're one to speak for honor!" Tails narrowed his eyes. "You've been living like a thief for the past 3 years! Since when have you EVER cared about honor?!"

"It's a family thing. I know I don't have the best record in the world, and the last thing I wanna be is a stuck up jerk whose hung up on 'preserving his honor' blah, blah blah. But we're talking about my entire family." Brent sat down. "All of them'll just be considered losers and cheaters because of me, and let's face it that's not fair."

"So how's quitting going to help any of this?"

"My entire family has been a long line of Ka Masters. Not nearly as long as the Lateris, but all the same...I turn in my staff, I'm thereby off the family proper. It's a way of disowning myself. Then all that nobility and honor crap can be preserved."

"You don't seem too enthusiastic about upholding all that."

"Would you, knowing you have to leave everything behind?"

"That's not worth it!" Tails tried to point out. "If you can just restore it..or something..."

"Not gonna work. No matter what I do everyone'll just think it's the NFE not me."

"......So now what? You're gonna go back to petty theft until they catch you?"

"Looks that way doesn't it?" Brent mumbled.

"This is downright insane....at least wait until after Drills. Just to see how everything works out. You're not thinking straight."

"I know." Brent said quietly. "But that's never exactly stopped me before."

"Than let it." Tails narrowed his eyes.

"........Darnit. We've moved into yet another deep conversation." Brent smirked.

"You're right." Tails shuddered. "Let's get back to training at least."

"Works for me....All right let's see how you've been working on that Quake Swing..."

---

"Two weeks spent trying to stop a rumor." Sora yawned over her books. "I've barely got studied the properties of the 4-Way Swing."

"At least we did something." Tails yawned also. "If that thing spread any farther than it did, they're would have been a huge boost to crime levels."

"Must study..." Craig nearly drooled.

"Uh...when was the last time you got any sleep Craig?" Tails looked worried.

"I squeezed a few hours in over the weekend....." The rabbit dropped his head rubbing his eyebrows with his palms.

"I wasn't much better off." Sora cringed. "I think my tail's been cramping up, and I'm starting to hallucinate."

"About what?" Tails raised an eyebrow.

"Giant inflatable balloons and the...gedder headio drinener." Sora's put her head down dropping into uncompressible speech.

She didn't get to far as she was immediately hit with a bowl of cold soup that had gone astray.

"Bleh." She got up slowly. "Well that does it for me. Last time I'm studying in the cafeteria. Better practice a bauble." Sora tried to concentrate on creating a sphere. "All right!" She cheered as it came easily before her.

"Yeah, yeah. You can do one thing I can't." Tails mumbled. It took at least 5 minutes for him to get a small one to appear.

"I also can actually go to places I want to." Sora stepped into it laughing.

"I get the idea." Tails looked back at Craig. "Are you okay?"

"Right over there." Craig mumbled also half asleep.

"Okay, I guess I'll go up too. You sure you don't need any help getting back to your room or something?" Tails got up.

"I told you it's over there." Craig yawned, still sleeptalking.

"Uh huh." The fox frowned. "You seriously need to stop pounding yourself...."

"Stop pounding myself...." Craig repeated half mumbling the words.

"And be sure to give Tails twenty bucks when you wake up."

"Twenty.....all right I'll go up to my room." The rabbit got up with a sudden burst of energy. "And stop smiling about it! I was practicing that sleepy-eyed look."

"You don't need to practice it. Your gonna fail Drills if you go into it like this." Tails warned.

"Bleh. I can still get more training in." Craig put his fist in the air. "It'll be a piece of cake! A very stale piece of cake, but cake nonetheless!"

"How's Sharp- I mean Samuel-Ka holding up to this?"

"He's wimping out, saying I'm pushing him too much."

"Wish I could say the same for Brent-Ka." Tails shuddered. "He won't give me a break."

"Even after we saved his reputation?"

"We MIGHT have saved his reputation. If Cume can really keep his beak shut about something."

"Wonder how Sora's doing."

"Not sure. The Ta'Ka pushed Salah-Ka to go to afternoon training when no one else is...that way when those two try to tear each other apart, it won't distract as many people." Tails rolled his eyes.  
"Oh so only half of the world than?" Craig laughed.

"More like 3/4ths" Tails smirked.

"Right. Man. I really do need a nap or something." Craig threw his books in his pack.

"Nyeh. I agree." Tails yawned. "This is catching."

"Uh, I'll take us out." Craig backed up a bit before creating a bauble.

"I'm not that bad at it." Tails mumbled stepping into it.

====

RETROSPECTIVE

Update between bugs and plants

====

Well, I'm currently in a break, in the middle of my summer field ecology class updating this. With my internet access kaput, I really haven't found time to update much, so live with what you get, even though this chapter is a little....depressing? Hey, everyone's gotta have some sorta story, and this is Crayshen's. Sure maybe he is my avatar in a slice of story, but I still don't like him very much, I guess this is just a way of squeezing out a little sympathy for him. And as for Salah's little secret....never mind. I hate foreshadowing if people try to sneak it in like that.

Okay, plot point to make clear. Originally the chapter started with a training session near the lake, here that's just implied. Don't like it? Than you can live with the horrible scene that was there before I re-edited it.

Ha! They couldn't stop me after all! Who needs AOL anyway? Okay, I do...but still....

Anyway, I've got bugs to pin. Better get a move on.

Hey, it was either this or take physics.

High school credit. Fear it.


	12. Plot and Pants

"You all know Drills are in a week." Brent paced back and forth in front of the class. "They ARE that hard, and there will be more of them. So I've decided to set a preliminary test for you guys."

There was some uncomfortable shuffling in the desks.

Sora stifled a yawn. This was the last thing she needed. You think the hairball would be grateful she had helped save his sorry butt, she thought getting her training staff out.

"Relax. This just gonna be one person at random, and at basic level, just so you can get how it'll go. Let's see...Troyman! You haven't done much yet."

Craig looked on in obvious amusement as Troyman stumbled up to the front. He never really liked humans. They were always so cocky going around like they owned the place.

Brent now stood in front of the class in an attack pose.

"Drill One! Battle Patterns-A" The cat called out dashing forward and the two began the test.

"1...2...3.....1....2....3....4....4....1....1....2....3....3...." Troyman held his own easily.

Brent smiled and started to advance on the pattern. "1...2...3...4...5...6...7....7...7..." The attacks started to increase in number.

Troyman carefully avoided the bait and kept to a lower attack pattern. Finally Brent stood down. "Decent." The cat smirked. "Drill Two! Tech Level-G!"

Tails was feigning interest in the battle looking up every 30 seconds and than looking back down in hopes that the novel he had snuck in wouldn't be noticed. It wasn't that he found Brent's class boring, just repetitive. He had to go over this stuff for 2 hours everyday anyway so what could a little extracurricular reading harm?

"All right. Stand down." Brent ordered.

Troyman sludged off to his desk a little red from everyone looking at him.

"There." Brent sat down in his chair. "Seems easy enough right? Just do your best and hope everything comes out right. Well it's not that simple. You'll need to put on a show for the Ta'Ka not just what you've learned. You might even want to consider outlining your Drills with your Ka Master if you're not too good at improv. They're looking for proof that not only do you know what you've been taught but also that you can apply it to what's after graduation....Lateri?" Brent noticed her paw in the air.

"Um, what exactly can we hope for after training?" Sora asked a little sheepishly.

"If your lucky? The lab or a testing role. If you're unlucky...Guard Wing, if you're extremely unlucky Advanced Wing and if fate hates your stinking guts, training an apprentice."

That got a little laugh out of everybody.

Brent smiled. "Okay, for the rest of the period, let's hear ideas of what would be good to do in Drills. You have got to remember it's what you've learned and how well you can show off."

The class shuffled again as if in one thought.

Tails sighed and slipped his book away in his backpack. Maybe the class would go by quicker than he thought.

===

"So you've been reading the report files." Slak frowned.

"No. But I noticed you were editing a few." Salah continued to type on the console.

"It's my job to protect them...if I happen to catch a glimpse or two of what's on there..."

"Nice cover-up." Salah rolled her eyes.

"At least I try. When the Ta'Ka find out that you've been reading 'em they're going to EXP-" Slak took a deep breath.

"Shut up." Salah slapped his mouth shut. "Trust me I haven't been reading the report files!!"

The rat forced her paw off his mouth and started to speak again. "I beg to differ."

"Oh stuff it and let's get back to data entry."

"Bleh. This stuff makes me want to..." Slak started but caught a look from Salah. "......SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST!!!"

"Well at least it was original." Salah sweatdropped. "All right what've we got on Common File 232-AB?"

"Another report on the adverse effects of canceling the NFE...by Roddis naturally." Slak sighed.

"That guy really doesn't want to give up on this thing does he?" Salah raised an eyebrow. "What's he in it for? I never really saw him fight."

"That little twerp? He hasn't done a day of fighting since Sharpear graduated." Slak scoffed at the thought.

"I don't think Sharpear would like you saying that." Salah narrowed her eyes.

"It's true." Slak shrugged.

"Whatever just put it in already. Stupid moron. He's already wasted enough time whining about this failure of a project." Salah grumbled.

"Would've been a success....here's what I think. Someone tampered with Vale's original experiment." Slak nodded slowly.

"That's a good possibility." Salah seemed to smirk. "But no one would be stupid enough to mess with something as experimental as the NFE."

"That's why I think it was Mason."

"Heh...yeah. Mason." Salah continued to type.

Stupid rat. Maybe it'd be better if he found out what really happened...he might quit! But than again what if Kura or Brent found out?  
They wouldn't be too happy.

It was a long time ago anyway. Anyone could have goofed up like that.

Except it was all done on purpose....

===

"This is a bit out of character for you." Juro walked his paws behind his head.

"Yeah, well what do I have left?!" Michael spat at the ground. "I'm a failure as a Ka Master, training an apprentice and basically doing anything. You should be dead by now and you're not. That's proof enough. Maybe the NFE really is the way things are supposed to go for me."

"Live life the way it's been handed to ya." Juro laughed.

"....Look do you want my help or not?!"

"I don't know. What are you planning to do with the thing anyway?"

"How about we put a little brotherly trust in that, and I don't answer?"

"What the hell?" Juro shrugged. "The more the merrier. Although you're resonating with pure evil."

Michael's eyes grew bright green.

"Think what you want to, Juro. Think what you want to."

===

"....So basically the world is a progressive downwards slope that will eventually lead to the destruction of all living things." Tails finished.

Craig and Sora just stared.

"That has got to be the most depressing batch of crap you've told us yet." Sora blinked.

"Wait 'till I get to the part about whether we exist at all."

"Your fly's open." Sora pointed out.

"I'm not wearing any pants. I see you've looked up some stuff on Capon though. Nice job."

"If your not wearing any pants, how come they don't arrest you or something?"

"Laws of anthropomorphology. You never actually see anything it's just implied."

"Can we PLEASE stop this conversation now?" Craig winced. "It's getting really creepy, really fast."

"You know I never noticed the lack of pants around here." Sora tapped her chin.

"Your wearing jeans. Just focus on that." Craig tried to end the conversation.

"Maybe I'M the one that should go without pants. You ever think of that?"

"WOULD YOU JUST PLEASE STOP IT!" Craig's head nearly exploded. "If my head takes in any more of this I'll....ow!" He rubbed his head where Sora had smacked it.

"Dirty ear-boy."

"I asked you to stop! Several times!"

Tails smiled. For once he was watching an argument with Sora, instead of being in the middle of it. He supposed it was something hard wired in her brain. She argued even when she agreed with what you were saying. She just liked to fight. Speaking of which she was now in the process of bashing Craig's head in, which snapped Tails back to reality.

"C'mon, we came out here to train." Tails nodded.

Craig scampered off near the sidelines. It had been a mutual agreement between Sora and Tails that the fight in the tournament was somewhat....unbalanced, so the two decided to get in a few extra hours of training, and settle a score at the same time.

"Well, well, another chance to cream you good!" Sora laughed darkly and dashed into the center of the ring.

"Think again, I wasn't even fighting the first time." Tails copied her movements.

They both entered Drive and swung at each other using every muscle fiber in their body.

Both dodged each other's blows in a brilliant arc motion flipping several times before landing and again dashed towards each other.

The staffs they were holding met together with an amazing ring, and the two tried to throw each other off with their strength.

"Is this all you have?" Tails smirked. "Bring it up a notch Lateri."

"If you insist." Sora flicked her weapon upwards causing Tails' own staff to hit him in the face.

The fox reeled back a bit rubbing his cheek and entered Drive.

Sora watched his movements carefully looking for any sort of hint of what the next move would be. Looked so far like a Mirage Swing, the way he was....

Tails in midswing suddenly flipped it back to normal position and flipped his staff horizontally shoving it against Sora's hurried defense. It wasn't enough for Sora however and her staff flew across the ring hitting the dirt with a sound that was vaguely "Karunck."

"Crud." Sora mumbled and then looked up to the sky smiling.

"What?" Tails did the same and a Ka Staff came down on his face.

"Know when to attack." Craig stepped out from behind Tails.

"Ah holy crap!" Tails covered his face. "That just plain hurts. Nice Raining Swing though."

" Thanks....you okay?" Craig asked looking a little concerned.

"Just cut my mouth a bit." Tails wiped off a little blood. "Is it just me or do Ka Staffs get sharper the stronger you get?"

"I read about that." Sora looked over. "As technique improves you can actually make the Ka Staff more painful than just a regular blow. Something about the way you control the speed."

"So what, know you're just the girl that explains things we already know?"

"Stuff it." Sora made a feign kick at his knee.

"You didn't tell Brent-Ka about Michael.....Ka did you?" Craig suddenly pulled a question out of space-time.

"Uh....yeah. Had to be done. Why ask?"

"There's just been something bugging me about the guy. I've never seen eyes that bright green before."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. But I did ask around. Salah said it was definite. Michael Banelan has never been on the NFE before. It dulls your eyes."

"Good. I thought it was going to be some lame Mako reference." Sora shook her head.

"Now that you mention it, have you noticed a lot of the stuff going around lately I coulda swear I've seen on different stuff? You know games, TV, philosophy books, web comics....." Tails tried to list the numbers off on a paw.

"Never mind any of that. Hey, wait you forgot the "ka" for Salah and Michael! Bein' disrespectful 'eh?"

"You just did too. Forget the stupid 'Ka' though. You try saying that many names without forgetting it."

"Okay-Ka. I will-Ka. Here-Ka I am-Ka...Let's see-Ka...Hello-Ka my-Ka Name-Ka...." Sora laughed as she went on with the sentence.

Tails rolled his eyes.

"What? It's sorta of funny." Sora mumbled.

"No actually it wasn't." Craig kept a straight face.

"Stuff it down your throat." The vixen stuck her tongue out. "By the way did you hear who Salah-Kagot to speak in her class?"

"Nope. Who was it?" Tails asked a little bored.

"Captain Eterna himself."

Craig whistled. "Impressive. But isn't that her dad?"

"Yeah. But still it's pretty cool." Sora responded.

"Okay...question...." Tails started.

"Captain Axen Eterna is the leader of Advanced Wing. Not exactly someone who would just drop his schedule to teach a class." Craig finished for him.

"And he's also hated by Roddis." Sora sat down on the ground. "Never got why though."

"Wish Brent-Ka would do something like that for our Ka Group." Tails sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Honestly a whole class on how to show off? I mean I'm not complaining but still...." Craig's ears twitched a bit.

"Nghh..." Sora fell flat on the ground. "It's one of those days isn't it?"

"Yep." Craig also fell flat. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing. At least we're not studying."

Tails shook his head. He wasn't exactly feeling like having a regular day. Everything was feeling like routine lately, even training. Things have gotten boring, he suddenly realized. They're just not the same without Sonic.

"Well sorry we're not exciting enough for you." Sora said with a tinge of bitterness.

It hit Tails that he must have spoken some of his thoughts out-loud.

"That's not exactly what I meant...I just mean...well..." He looked for someway to correct himself. "Okay, yeah I'm bored." He gave up, flopping down on the ground like both of them. "It's just that....I want to be doing something useful I guess. Training's great and all, but I wish I could hurry up and graduate already."

"You're only staying on for a few more months?" Craig asked. "I'm planning to stick to it for a couple years, maybe get a shot at Guard Wing."

"You're thinking too small, which fits your stature." Sora put her paws behind her head. "Advanced Wing, Guard Wing, bleh. The real thing is being on the Ta'Ka and if I have to stay for a few extra years, what's the harm? At least when I make it, I'll show that stupid Kura Saylien who's boss, literally!"

"So here's a question for you Sora, who do you hate more, Salah-Ka or Kura-Ka?" Tails stifled a laugh.

"Kura, definitely. She's annoying, stuck up, and stupid." Sora mumbled. "Salah-Ka may be tough in training, but I respect her at least."

"Don't you mean Kura-KA?" Craig asked uninterested.

"Especially after grilling me about it?" Tails smirked a bit.

"No. Not here. Titles of respect for her?! You're joking. Anyway, I'm glad Tyson's back. Maybe know I can actually learn something."

"Tyson-Ka isn't it?" Tails smiled again.

"Not a word." Sora looked over at him.

The three continued to lie on the ground for a while.

"5 days left." Craig mumbled. "I think our Ka Group is the next to last to go, it's almost over at least."

"Don't get too comfortable, we've still got to go through this twice after this week. And as for you and Sora, you can expect it for a long, long time." Tails grinned darkly.

"Oh shut up." Sora thwacked his head with her paw.

"At least it wasn't a Ka Staff." The fox rubbed his head.

===

"So what now?" Juro stood in front of the Academy.

"For you? Attack." Michael turned around.

"Are you nuts? I'll get killed! It's just a matter of get in and get out."

"We're not going to touch that DNA, get it?"

"No....and what am I supposed to do anyway?"

"Walk in, knock out a few students, cause some mayhem and slip out. I have someone I gotta meet...and probably kill. That's my only requirement before we start with the NFE."

"I take it this has to do with Crayshen?" Juro smiled darkly.

"Shut up." Michael looked over at him. "You don't know a thing Juro. Not a thing. Just fight. That's all you're good at anyway." The white wolf started to walk in.

"I have a brain Mike!" Juro called after him.

"Did I say you were stupid? No. But don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong." Michael entered the doors.

Juro crouched into an attack position getting ready to dash in. Maybe he didn't have much in the way of brains.

But Michael was right. He could fight...very well.

===

"So you're pulling out just an hour before the last class?!" Salah looked a bit crestfallen. "C'mon pops I was counting on you."

"I'm sorry...I know...I know." A calico cat, with a brilliant mix of black, brown and white, standing next to her sighed. "Things aren't that easy, I wish they were, but the Ta'Ka want the Advanced Wing on patrol. We've been putting it off for two months and we need to reform and regroup."

"You can't stay just 2 more hours? Please!" Salah looked up at him.

"All right, all right. 2 more hours, one last class, but I can't stay another day here, thanks to that idiotic mouse running things." Axen grumbled.

"Thanks pops. Sorry to waste your time." Salah hugged him.

"Excuse me..Captain Eterna?" A voice came from behind them.

"Uh...." Axen looked down at his daughter.

Salah let go and sat down looking over to see the speaker. Sharpear. Great. More work to tear them apart again.

"Roddis just ordered an regroup of Advanced Wing effective today."

"I know. I'll be gone in 2 hours no less!"

"Right." Sharpear nodded and walked out of the cafeteria.

"What in the world does Roddis need Advanced Wing on patrol anyway?" Salah sighed.

"I don't know. He had Guard Wing move out less than a week ago. It's crazy! He's moving 3/4 of the world's Ka Masters to the other side of the world. If we could just get some new members I could retire maybe, but the Ta'Ka claim no one is worthy of Advanced Wing. They've been claiming that for over three years already! Guard Wing isn't doing much better either. Times have changed." Axen sat down also. "I can see where Roddis is going with this. No one needs a peacekeeping force like the Ka Masters anymore. Armies, police, nations all have weapons that are far beyond our strength. I don't even know why they keep this place open anymore."

"Because there's been renewed interest. You saw it in the halls, the size of the student body is nearly 20 times what it was a decade ago." Salah pointed out.

"Their imaginations have gotten away with them." Axen's voice turned angry. "They think the world can't live without Ka Masters, that Guard Wing and Advanced Wing are the sole protectors of peace....there hasn't been a serious mission we've been on since that whole O-Zero incident, and.... anyway, it's ridiculous what they've been spoon fed. Ours, is a fighting style on it's last legs."

".....Do you honestly think that?" Salah smirked a bit. "Because if you did, you would have quit by now."

"If we're gonna go down, go down fighting." Axen smiled also.

"Heh...that's the Eterna philosophy all right." A voice came from the table next to them.

"Uh..how long have you been sitting there?" Salah looked over to see Brent finishing up lunch.

"For about an hour. You two talked so much about everyone and everything you kind of didn't notice what was going on around you." Brent continued to eat. "You even missed Slak giving a indoor fireworks display and then getting chased down and beaned by Kura. Quite a show actually."

Axen looked over at the white cat. "You're Brent Crayshen right? How would you be interested..."

"In applying for Advanced Wing." Brent finished the sentence. "One word, no."

"But we could really..."

"No." Brent finished his lunch and baubled out as quickly as possible before Axen could get another word in.

"Strange guy." Axen shrugged.

"That's only the tip of the iceberg." Salah shook her head.

"Know him well than?"

"Better than I used to."

"That's the guy you were always calling Fatmouth wasn't it?" Axen asked leaning back in his chair.

"He's changed a little bit...he's still a jerk but he'll come through in a bind."

"Why wouldn't he join up? We could really use him."

"Brent, in a social group...being forced to fight day in, day out for food. No." Salah almost laughed at the picture. "If it wasn't for the fact, it's one of the few things he does good, he would of turned in his staff a long time ago. Besides he's got an apprentice to train."

"Too bad you never got an apprentice yourself. You'd excel at it." Axen smiled.

"No I wouldn't. I took over a training schedule for a nightmare."

"How come?"

"The kid's a Lateri."

"That's not so bad, I've known lots of..."

"She's Karastil's daughter. Hates his stinking guts, but in the end she's just like him. Same loudmouth style, same hotheaded personality...it's ridiculous."

"...Karastil huh? If there's one thing this world would be better off without, it'd be him." Axen nearly spat.

"C'mon we gotta get to the next class. You've only got two hours left right?" Salah smiled weakly.

"Right." Axen got up.

"PROBLEM!!!" Tyson burst in the room.

"Wha? Tyson, what's going on?" Salah asked a little shocked by his sudden appearance.

"I DON'T KNOW! One second everything's peaceful the next, all the students in the building are at each other's throats! Ya can't go down there without some insane kid trying to kill you!!"

"That's ridiculous. No one would want to risk expulsion during Drills." Salah waved him off. "Anyway this is an extremely bad joke. Go tell Crayshen he's not funny."

"I'M NOT JOKING!" Tyson flailed his paws.

"Fine. I'll go and check." Salah created a bauble and left.

"This is odd." Axen scratched his chin. "Students don't just start attacking each other."

"Not normally.." Tyson rolled his eyes. "But you can go look for yourself. The whole place is in an uproar."

"Well I guess it makes since than." The solider shrugged.

"Really, how? Because I would like to know before somebody gets killed!!" Tyson was furious.

"It's a distraction. Painfully obvious." Axen smirked. "Not exactly the most original tactic in the world either."

A bauble appeared and Salah stumbled out.

"You've made the understatement of the decade Tyson." Salah rubbed her head. "I got caught up in the fighting also and got clobbered by seven different students. This is nothing short of a revolt."

"The Captain here thinks it's a distraction." Tyson motioned to Axen.

"Duh. Do you really think everyone would just snap like that?" Salah rolled her eyes. "C'mon if someone did sneak in we gotta find 'em. Assume it's Juro." She nodded before baubling away again.

"Banelan?" Axen asked a little confused.

"Ever heard of the NFE?" Tyson asked.

"No."

"Than I'll explain later." Tyson created a bauble. "...Wait a second. The Ta'Ka never told you about..."

"Later. We've got a job to do." Axen stepped into the sphere.

===

"Out of my way, insane little maggots." Brent swatted at the students as he tried to make his way back to his room. He was too tired to use a bauble, it would probably tear him apart if he tried to.

Brent grabbed a random student by the collar.

"Why the hell are you all fighting?!"

"Me? I'm trying to defend myself!" A squirrel at the other end of Brent's paw struggled. "Some guy came in here and just started attacking and before you know it, everyone thinks everyone else is out to get them."

"Okay, student body gone paranoid. Any clue who started all this?" Brent let go of the squirrel.

"No, some kid just started yelling, fighting back, and then...well this."

Several baubles suddenly appeared.

"Ta'Ka are coming." Brent looked over.

"Oh great, I got Drills and I'm gonna get expelled!" The squirrel whined.

"They won't expel anyone. They can't. It's too huge an incident." Brent managed to walk away. "But don't get too comfortable. They'll probably restrict you all to your rooms for about a day." He called out after the student.

He reached the staircase on the other side that led up to the rooms reserved for full ranking Ka Masters and turned a corner into the hallway that led to his own room....and stopped mouth agape.

Michael was standing right in front of him in an attack pose.

A small squeaking sound came out of the cat's open mouth.

"Analyze the situation you're in Brent." Michael's voice was rigid with anger. "You know you could tear me apart in less than a minute. No reason to be afraid of some old wolf right?"

Brent blinked. This was bad. This was very bad.

===

"No sign of anyone anywhere." Salah baubled back into the Faculty Cafeteria where Axen and Tyson had returned from finished their search. "You guys check the lab?"

"Not a thing out of place." Tyson mumbled.

"What about the student dorms?" Axen suggested.

Salah shook her head. "Looked there too. I think we got the whole place covered save for the apartments on the other side."

"No time like the present than." Tyson created a bauble. "Ahhhh!" He collapsed holding his side. "Made one too many."

"Are you okay?" Salah asked a bit worried about the otter.

"No." Tyson mumbled still cringing. "That was an idiotic thing to do. I should've at least rested up first."

"Salah..." Axen looked over at her. "We really need to get going."

"Right." Salah nodded. "You gonna survive the next hour Tyson?"

"It's not so bad. Give me some of Kura's apple cobbler and I'll be fine."

Salah laughed a little as her and her father stepped into the bauble. Anything remotely related with Kura would be fine for him.

===

"Disgusting little hairball." Michael hit Brent in the face with his Ka Staff. "You're a traitor and that's all you ever were." The white wolf hit him again.

Brent could do nothing but let out a hybrid of a squeak and a whimper as the pummeling continued.

"Failure." Michael continued. "Both of us failures! Me at teaching and you at anything." The Ka Staff came around to connect with Brent's nose.

"Correction..." Michael continued the merciless onslaught. "I'm a failure at everything too, but have you noticed how I'm not taking the easy way out? Do you know why? Because I'm not going to sacrifice everything I am to turn into some....mindless doll."

Brent let out a small hiss as the blows from the staff continued.

"Don't try to act like Brent. You're not him. You're O-Zero....No there was no O-Zero. But whatever you are, you're the same damned thing that killed Meora."

"Like you're any different." Brent blocked the next blow. "I can put two and two together. You and Juro are after the stupid DNA. Why don't you just take it?"

"Juro's after the DNA. I don't need it." Michael's eyes grew bright green again.

Brent's eyes did the same.

"Nice try, you taught me that little trick. Intimidating your opponent right?"

"Oh..." Michael's eyes snapped back to their regular color.

"Yeah, that whole 'teaching me everything you know' thing? That was a mistake on your part, huh?"

"Shut up. I don't have time to deal with you."

"You came in here to beat my brains in."

"Maybe I will then." Michael took the staff at Brent's head.

It connected.

Hard.

Hard enough to send Brent flying back a few feet.

Hard enough to knock his brain a little loose.

"Sorry." A fuzzy gray shaped blob walked over to him. "Really. You're a good kid, just a little on the slow side. Always were."

Well this genuinely sucked.

3 years. 3 years spent looking for this guy, just to apologize and what does he do? He nearly kills you that's what!

Why don't you ever shut up?

An argument in his mind was starting.

In the distance a faint bauble gave a small empty sound as it vanished and a new one appeared behind him.

Wait for this one you'll love it.

"CRAYSHEN!"

****

Well that could only be Salah. Heh. She's worried.

Don't patronize yourself

What? Can't something work out in my favor for once?

You noticed it?

About Salah? She just takes orders. She may be tough, an excellent fighter, and a good friend, but she's just a lackey. Brent himself started to join in the conversation in his mind.

"Take him to the MedCenter. Now."

Captain Axen Eterna, last defender of a near dead fighting style. What are you fighting for? Respect? Tradition? Or are you just stubborn?

"What in the name of...?" A new voice came out.

Must be on the lower floor, sounds like we just passed Cume. A liar in the grand sense. He'll make an ideal Ka Master won't he?

Are you still thinking? Maybe your just going to size everybody up as you go along. Are you just trying to minimize your own failures by pointing out others?

Potential to kill.

Yeah, the potential to kill. That's what every person on the face of the planet has, but you more than others. Is it because your stronger? Or is it because everyone else is and you're just a pawn? Strength can't exist without weakness.

**_That's a lot of questions to answer isn't it?_**

Sleep on it. Maybe you'll answer 'em faster than you thought. No? You're still struggling than. For what? You ask too many questions. No you need to find the answers. That's what you need.

No. What you need is strength.

So 've snapped his bones in two. Why'd you just stand there?

I deserved it, that's why.

And yet you came back. You wanted an apprentice. You wanted to prove to yourself that your not a failure.

That all depends on how you define failure.

Stop struggling. It's not going to help anyone...especially not you, failure.

You're crying.

Sap.

===

RETROSPECTIVE

Few and Far Between

===

My internet access is gone, my computer is suffering through a major bug, and I'm still typing. Still updating from summer school (it's extra credit, really!) and....well the asbestos people are here. Not much going on in Alton, IL. There never really is.

But the story, that's right, that 7 page thing in front of this. Yeah. Sorry. It's 11:00 at night on a Monday, and I've had a long day.

This chapter I think is either the worst or the best thing I've written so far, but authors are the worst judges of what they've written so just ignore me. Sora's comment about "Your fly is open" comes from Robert Farrar Capon's method of getting rid of universal skeptics. (_If knowledge is all so fired impossible, why do they always look down?_) And THAT got me thinking of why most anthros don't wear pants, which got me thinking then, why most vixen fox-girls wear jeans.

I have a very, very weird mind.

As for that three-way mind conversation. That's actually how my brain works. I argue with myself. A LOT. (Not outloud, I just don't like my attitude....or....or.....okay, I'm really weird)

That comment about their being too much copyrighted stuff is true. (And the Mako reference hit me just tonight) I use too much from other sources sometimes.

Okay, witty saying.....who better than my own writing teacher? Here were his words of advice on November 20th 2003.....

"I look like a Hawaiian girl."

Deep.


	13. Cliche Anime Double Title! Becuase I Can...

"I've been looking all over for you three!" Cume burst out onto the training grounds, where Tails, Sora and Craig were still relaxing. "You won't believe this!"

"You're right. I don't." Tails yawned.

"By the name of all that is good and holy, I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!" Cume yelled as loud as his lungs would let him.

"Okay, okay. We'll listen." Sora stuck a finger in her ear. "What is it?"

Cume caught his breath.

"It's Brent-Ka. Captain Eterna and Salah-Ka just went by carrying him. He's beat up. Bad."

Tails sighed.

"Just sick joke Dane came up with."

"...It's not." Cume said with a true note of honesty in his voice.

"Huh? Okay this is getting weird. Be right back." Tails ran off into the Academy.

"What happened?" Sora got up slowly.

"I don't know...I just saw it. And right after that whole mess too."

Craig got up also. "What are you talking about?"

"Half the student body was there. Ask someone else." Cume sunk to the ground. "I have nothing more to say, at all."

"Cume?!" Craig scratched his head in wonder. "You..."

"I can't. I told you, what I just saw was the truth." The duck shivered.

A small period of silence passed.

"How bad was it?" Sora finally asked quietly.

"Not anything fatal, but it was still a little....bleh." Cume shrugged.

Tails came walking back slowly to the others.

"They turned me out at the MedCenter. Everyone's a bit of a shock......what the hell HAPPENED?!" He finally exploded.

"A lot of mistakes rolled into one." A voice came from their left.

"You hear these mysterious voices a lot don't you?" Cume raised an eyebrow.

"Heh...." Tails turned around to face Michael who was walking towards him. "You tried to kill him didn't you?"

"He wouldn't fight back." Michael said quietly. "He was supposed to fight back."

"Why fight him?!" Sora shook her head

"Have you ever heard of Meora Reqis?" (_Pronounced "wreck-kees", not that it's important - Brent)_

"Uh...no."

"Salah's mother. Completely different personality from her though, very calm, collected, but very beautiful. Someone who was always there when you needed her."

"I really don't see what this has to do with anything." Tails raised an eyebrow.

"Taraku Lateri killed her. The truth was that he could control the NFE. Karastil saw him kill her, we fought him.

'O-Zero' the great uncontrollable demon, never existed. It was one very powerful fox. The only thing the NFE did to him was make him stronger and remove his scruples. He killed her because he could. But he loved her. We all did. It was a bit of shock when she married Axen. Everyone teaching then took it kind of hard. He took it the hardest. So he waited in the wings for quite some time and 3 years ago......There was no O-Zero. And that's not all, to this day Eterna thinks she killed her own mom. You see even Salah isn't perfect. In order to get a promotion, she simply made Vale look bad. She scrambled the required code to the original experiment, but it was just a tiny string of the enhanced DNA. If anything, it made Taraku stronger. A moderately strong body can handle the NFE, but the strongest mind can't. Brent Crayshen no longer exists. There's no way he can."

"Than why are there are dozens of Ka Masters who had the NFE performed on them? I mean they're all.." Tails started.

"Locked up in a nuthouse. They drove themselves insane trying to control it." Michael said without emotion. "Failures."

"So if all that crap's true.." Sora stepped with a threat in her voice. "Than how come he hasn't snapped yet? It's been 3 years."

"It could be 20 years, it could be tomorrow. But regardless he'll destroy. He'll kill. That's what's dangerous. His potential to kill."

"Everyone has the potential to kill." Craig's shot back. "It doesn't matter if your strong or not. Keep the peace, trust your friends, leave your legacy. The first three rules right? They're the only things that separate Ka Masters from murderers."

"And tell me? What is Crayshen's legacy? No better yet, what's my legacy? A disgruntled failure of a student? A legendary story about something that never even happened? Peace, legacy. Those are illusions. And in the right light all friends are enemies. There that shatters that."

"Than why'd you stop?" Tails smirked a bit.

".....I don't know what I think anymore okay? Life is out to..."

"Life sucks. That's true. So make it better.." Tails' smirk grew into a full on sarcastic smile. "You don't have to live life the way it's been handed to you."

"What the hell are you a sage?" Michael's eyes narrowed. "It doesn't matter what you are, an anthro, a human, a regular guy or a Ka Master. Everyone kills something at one point, whether it be a person, a bug, a dream, an idea...or something deeper. For what? To make your life better. Life is a sickening curse that's gotta be valued. Never ending paradox." Michael created a bauble. "Brent'll recover fast. It's just a few cuts on his face. Tell him that I have one last lesson. Those who don't value life don't deserve to live." The white wolf stepped into the sphere and disappeared.

"I hate drama." Tails sat back down on the grass.

"Okay, so we're involved in a needlessly complex plot, that involves what?" Craig wondered mindlessly through what they had just been told.

"I think at one point it involved a hot cat-girl." Cume scratched his beak.

"True, it's hard to forget that." Craig pointed out.

"Most memorable part." Tails nodded.

"You're just trying to make me mad aren't you?" Sora's paw flew up to her face.

---

"This is so stupid! It's just a few cuts on my face, I could be out there right now doing something..." Brent mumbled

"Hey, you're the one who fainted. That's enough for the MedCenter to restrict you to bed." Salah waved a paw a bit accusingly."

".........No I 't....move. I heard every word up to the point where you and your dad brought me in."

"You're an idiot you know that? You could've fought back."

"I know."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I deserved it. He's right I am a failure."

Salah sighed. Great his self esteem had taken a hit, again.

"So you had an experiment performed on you. It boosted your strength. That's not such a big..."

"You want to know something Salah? I know when I've failed." Brent put his paws behind his head and collapsed back onto the bed. "Not only am I a cheater, I've been living as a thief for the past 3 years."

"...You don't believe a word you just said do you?"

"Not really. At least I'm doing something useful."

"Is that why you came back?"

" I came back because I wanted to. Anything wrong with that?"

"...You know he'll come back with Juro and they'll both try something stupid." Salah pointed out.

"And this time I'll fight back. Don't worry about it." Brent waved a paw.

"Try to stay alive okay?"

"....You were worried weren't you?" Brent smirked.

"No dip. You think I was just gonna let you lie there and die?"

"Yeah."

"Don't make me regret it." The wildcat smirked

"Sorry I blew things up. I know you wanted to spend more time with your dad." Brent scratched the back of his head.

"If anything I should be thanking you. Stanson and Atora just relocated all of Guard and Advanced Wing straight to the Academy."

"And Roddis went along with that?"

"No." Salah mumbled a bit.. "And even after they got him to give in, he's made it pretty clear that Juro and Michael are to be left alone."

"......Good for them." Brent yawned.

"Arrogant little rodent. I'll have his neck yet." Salah's voice started to tinge with anger.

"They'll be plenty of time for that when you get promoted." Brent laughed a bit.

"Why does everyone think I'm gonna be on the Ta'Ka?" Salah grumbled.

"Don't you want to be?"

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm a shoe-in.

"Hate to tell you this, you are." Brent sat up again.

"Great, no pressure there than." Salah smiled. "Looks like I better get going it's almost nine and if I don't get to my class on time...."

"Than by all means...."

"You have got to be the dumbest person alive." Tails walked into the room.

"That's a popular opinion as of late." Salah laughed.

"Witty Salah. Witty."

"'Strongest Ka Master on the face of the planet', huh? Well than maybe next time you could JUST FIGHT BACK?!!!" Tails roared at Brent.

"O...Kay." Brent sat unblinking. "Anything else?"

"No, I think I blew a vocal cord." The fox cleared his throat. "Anyway I gotta study for Drills. Just thought I come to annoy you."

"Thanks. Well now that that's over with, maybe I'll to catch a bite of that cobbler Kura made, take a hike..."

"No." Salah pushed him back down on the bed.

"It's just a couple cuts on my face!!!"

"Again...you FAINTED!"

"....Well.....bleh.." Thinking of nothing else to do, Brent stuck his tongue out.

"Out of comebacks?" Tails stifled a laugh.

"Say one more word and I fail you." Brent mumbled barely coherent.

---

"ARGHHH!" Sora's fell flat down on the grass. "I can't take it anymore! Heavy Swing, Quake Swing, 4-Way Mirage Swing, repeat...repeat...repeat...it's driving me nuts!"

" Your Drills are tomorrow." Tyson shrugged. "And I might add, your battle patterns suck."

"Yeah, I know." Sora sighed. "I just have a nagging feeling I'm gonna mess up."

"You've been over your presentation right?" Tyson asked

"15 minutes of patterns, 30 minutes of technique, and the last 15 showing off." She brushed off the words. "I still haven't a clue what I'm going to do though."

Tyson smirked. "Just relax. Drills were hell for me too."

"Is that why you keep bragging you aced them to Brent-Ka?"

"Uh..." The otter scratched the back of his head. "Okay maybe they weren't that bad..."

"Let's face it. I'm toast." Sora grumbled.

That does it this was getting ridiculous.

"Get up. You're a Lateri." Tyson virtually spat.

"Nghh...I've always hated that fact." Sora shot back.

Fine, she wanted to try and play tennis with his words, she can.

"If you pass you get to rub it in Karastil's face."

Heh, that HAD to work.

"Good point, good point." Sora sat up and scratched her chin. "But if I blow it, he'll find out somehow and I'll never hear the end of it."

"Just get up already. I'm out of points." Tyson sighed.

"Eh, why not?" Sora got up and twirled her staff around. "It's just gonna be more trouble for you though."

"Great....I think." Tyson smiled sheepishly. "If you could just brush up on your technique you might...OW!!"

"I take it you're done for today?" Sora laughed.

Tyson held his knee. "That was cheap Lateri."

"I know." Sora baubled away. "Take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses."

At least she got the hang of that, the otter thought glumly to himself.

---

"Only 18 more hours." Craig yawned over his breakfast.

"Ngh." Tails responded waving a paw in the air, his head still down on the table.

"I hope we have a break from exercises for a while."

"Ngh."

"Double ngh."

A bauble appeared to reveal Sora.

"Hey guys. Training's over with for today?" Sora smiled as she sat down.

The two looked up at her with half-dead eyes.

"Oh, heh." Sora scratched the back of her head. "Sorry."

"It isn't your fault it's Brent-Ka's." Tails mumbled. "The second they let him out of the MedCenter I've been drug into training, hiking and being forced to help set up for the Drills tomorrow. I haven't gotten a rest since 4:00 this morning."

"You got the easy part." Craig flopped his head down on the table. "Samuel-Ka's making me do all the paperwork for each individual student in our Ka Group. 8 sheets a piece for 12 kids. That's 96 sheets AND IT REALLY SUCKS HAVING TO FILL THEM OUT!!!" The tiny rabbit finally yelled out with all of his might and fell off his chair in complete exhaustion.

"What's Sharpear been doing than?" Sora asked.

"First of all..." Craig started to respond, getting back up.

"Fine Samuel-Ka than."

"Absolutely nothing." Fire burned in Craig's eyes as he sat down again. "Just walking back and forth talking with Captain Eterna like there isn't a SINGLE FREAKIN' SHRED OF PAPER, AND MEANWHILE I'M LITERALLY BURIED IN IT!"

"Do you realize how many officers from the Guard and Advanced Wings have been showing up lately?" Tails leaned back in his chair. "Captain Eterna was supposed to stay for a few hours, not a few days and than all these officers start showing up out of the blue. Must've been a change in plans I guess."

"The Ka Masters have all been on edge too." Sora pointed out. "Tyson-Ka's been pacing around mumbling about the 'stupid mouse in charge', Salah-Ka's immersed herself in lab work, and Slak-Ka stopped detonating things."

"That's a tad serious." Tails returned his chair upright and scooted closer to the table. "It doesn't take half a brain to realize that something's gonna happen."

"Ask me if I care." Craig managed to spit the words out of his mouth. "I just wanta get through Drills, a few more exercises, and than off on break."

"Vacation doesn't start for at least 4 more months." Sora grumbled. "It's not that great. Two weeks and than it's 'OK. Come back now so we can hurry up and cram 2 more Drills down your throat and than you can start getting ready for the Battle Royale'."

"This sucks." Tails put a bored look on his face. "We don't get any mail, we have a vacation that's way too short, something really bad is about to happen, and no one seems to really care."

"Ngh." Sora shrugged. "Take what you can get."

"Double ngh." The two boys nodded and burst out in laughter.

"Uhhh..." Sora watched, confused.

"Never mind." Tails managed to get out.

"Had to be there." Craig smiled.

Sora just shook her head and sighed.

"Anyway, how's Drills looking for you guys?"

"If I should cast off this tattered coat and go free into the mighty sky...." Tails' eyes glazed over.

"Not so good. How 'bout you?" Craig ignored him.

"Ah, I'm a little low on battle patterns but..."

".....If I should find nothing there but a vast blue...." Tails continued completely oblivious. "Echoless, ignorant, what then?"

".....So you're not looking forward to them?" Sora frowned.

"Not looking forward to what?"

"DRILLS!"

"Oh. I dunno."

"Than why did you just go through all of that?"

"All of what?" The kitsune put a mock-confused look on his face.

"That....depressing thing.....wait. You take pride in annoying other people don't you?"

"Not usually. You just react better than most." __

"You have 30 seconds to run before I rip out your aorta." Sora cracked her paws.

"Still having fun?" Craig looked over at Tails.

The fox just squeaked.

---

"Is it just me or has this place been getting way too crowded recently?" Kura dashed back and forth in the small kitchen checking on various items of food.

"With both Wings coming in, they even had to put Tyson and Brent on cooking duty." Salah smirked. "Thankfully they left Slak out." Kura laughed a little. "Wait a second, Tyson AND the Fatmouth were cooking?"

"It's a sign of the Apocalypse, I know. But we needed all the help we could get." Salah took an oven mitt off her paw. "They just don't stop eating..." She looked out into the huge crowd of flesh and fur that had crammed into the Faculty Cafeteria.

"Hurry up and close the roll top before they come back for seconds." Kura warned.

"Gotcha." Salah smiled pulling the tab down and shrunk down to the floor. "It's about due time we had a break, with Drills going on and all. You judged any?"

"I managed to work my way out of it. I think the Ta'Ka want some of the older Ka Masters, like Ketwen or Caide to do most of it."

"You mean the Ta'Ka don't trust 6 teenagers to make a critical discoing that will determine the fate of the school?" Salah asked in mock surprise. "I almost thought it was gonna end up like that. Where the heck was Ketwen doing those last 2 exercises?"

"Taking care of the other Ka Groups in the piece of crap known as the Run, and as soon as Drills are over we're up for it too." Kura sat on the counter.

"I hate the Run. It doesn't matter if I'm teaching in it or going through it, it sucks. I can't believe they can just treat us like...like....."

"Animals?"

"That would be redundant but yeah." Salah scoffed. "Stupid humans and their stupid phrases."

"....This is a tad boring isn't it?" Kura sighed. "I mean Brent, Tyson and Sharpear all have apprentices and we're down here running errands and teaching half-awake classes."

"I'm not training Sora again." Salah said with a hint of frustration. "But you're right this isn't what I was expecting at graduation.....You know what?"

"What?"

"How about after this year, we go on reserve?" Salah smiled.

"Money'll be an issue." Kura raised an eyebrow.

"With our cooking ability?! We literally just fed an entire stinking army!"

"Hate to crush your hopes but I'm staying on. I guess I'm just attached to this place." Kura motioned around her. "I've been here for 4 years and I like it."

"I just want to get out! Do you know what 9 years in this place can do to you?! All I need is a little bit of freedom." Salah put her paws behind her head. "No more stupid Ta'Ka to listen to, no more classes that skip out on their homework, just me and the open road."

"I never really saw you as the hobo type." Kura smirked.

"Neither did I. I just thought of it. Not that bad of a dream to indulge in...."

"Wha? That made no sense whatsoever."

"It's something I can concentrate on. You know how it is. _Utrum per hebdomadem peveniam._"

"Okay you lost me. I don't have your IQ."

"Never mind." The wildcat got up and created a bauble.

"No really what did it mean?" Kura asked a little inquisitively.

Salah sighed and stepped in the sphere.

===

RETROSPECTIVE

There's still no action, but hey who cares? Wait! Come back!

===

Well I'm back, for a while anyway, and my stupid factory refurbished E-Machine is trying to prevent me from writing this chapter. Well HA! It's finished!

Actually I'm really starting to confuse myself with the way I've been ending these things lately. I took a paragraph or two out and now I'm already eating into the next episode/chapter I had. I'm running out of pre-written material FAST. Guess this means I'll actually have start working on this story again.

The Latin quote Salah made was ripped directly out of Robert Fulgrahm's Uh-Oh. The literal translation is "If only I can get through this week." Tails' depressing quote comes from Stephen Crane.

You know I have to level with you guys. I've been stealing all my philosophic quotes from _The Universe Next Door_, but of course I don't many of you actually care.

Yeah the conversation with Michael was 'nyeh' but that's why he's one of my favorite characters, he still maintains his 'I'm evil or am I?' sense even though the rest of the world around him collapsed into insanity a long time ago.

The scene with Salah and Kura was made just to give a peak into Salah's personality and what she actually wants to do. I don't know I was bored.

My computer is stuck in 16 colors. I can't change it because in my infinite wisdom, I removed my graphics driver. (Don't ask) I don't know why I'm telling you this, I guess I'm just bored.

Coca Cola was originally green.

Go crazy.


	14. Exams Can Be Deadly

Dread, fear, an utter sense of approaching doom.....

It was the day of Drills. Even the Academy couldn't escape the good old fashioned "Oh my God, I'm gonna fail" atmosphere that comes with mid-terms and it seemed as if it had hit Sora with the force of a couple dozen bricks in a pillowcase.

"I'm going to puke." She finally managed to choke out as she sat glumly in one of the reserved waiting rooms just outside the Inner Arena.

"Upchuck?" Tails offered.

"Barf?" Gil tried his hand.

"Eject from your mouth a form of mucus and phlegm mixed together in such a way that it tastes displeasing and comes out looking even worse?" Craig smiled.

"....You my friend are a complete genius." Zen slapped the tiny rabbit on the back.

"I know it." Craig gave off a cheesy smile.

"You all suck." Sora slammed her head down on the table. "I'm going to blow it. I know I'm going to blow it."

"It can't be any worse than what happened to Joe Savan a few years ago." Cume started to flail his wings. "The second he began his battle patterns, his staff slipped away from him and he ended up beaning one of the judges."

"I heard about that." Gil nodded. "They say the only job he could get after that with the Ka Masters was a training dummy for Guard Wing."

"Arghh!" Sora clonked her head against the table again. "It's too early for stupid stories."

"Don't worry. You can always shoot for a training dummy in Advanced Wing." Gil started to laugh but was quickly cut off by the fact Sora's paws were now around his throat, and she was shaking said throat...very violently.

"Sora, don't kill him yet." Zen dragged her off. "If anyone's gonna do that it'll be me."

"You're a huge argument for brotherly love." Gil backed up.

"Just wait until I find out what Mom and Dad left you in the will." Zen smiled darkly.

"There. All that's gotta make you feel a bit better." Tails pointed out.

"Despite the overall absurdity of it..." Sora tapped her chin in thought. "No." She finally said her head down on the table once more.

"Don't worry I had a look at the list when I helped set up, you're the last one in our Ka Group." Tails darted his eyes looking at everyone at the table. "And I think the next one up is..."

"Next student, Cume Avala..." One of the attendants near the door called out.

"Break a wing." Gil offered cheerily

"Boil your head in wax." Cume said back with the same amount of optimism.

They all watched as Cume walked through the door and then turned back towards each other.

"What now?" Craig shrugged.

"Beats me." Tails scratched the back of his head. "We could be doing something, if Dane hadn't hacked the chess set into a million pieces."

"He doesn't much care to lose, does he?" Zen asked.

"I hate him. Him and Trask." Tails mumbled.

"You better warm up to them fast if you wanna live through the Run. Remember they organize teams there by top students."

"That stupid maze exercise? So I'm stuck with two jerks for a couple hours." Tails shrugged.

"72." Zen corrected him.

"What?"

" At least 72 hours. No one has ever made it out in less than 3 days."

"...Thank for making next week miserable. Is there anything else you'd like to destroy me with?" Tails sighed and sat down across from Sora.

"Move over." He mumbled crashing his head into the table as well.

"You guys can't keep moping for hours on end! I'll be stuck here with these two!" Craig motioned to Zen and Gil. "The last time that happened they tied my ears to my staff and left me there. It was very painful."

The two foxes behind him backed up quickly and ran for the door to the hallway. Seeing Craig stare at them, Zen cleared his throat. "Coffee. Yeah, that's it. We need some. Okay bye." They quickly rushed out.

The tiny rabbit watched his friends with their heads down and sighed. He was always the only one left with any sanity.

Finally thinking of nothing else to do, Craig picked up his training staff and hit them both in the heads.

They both looked up at him and smiled.

"You are a complete genius." Sora rubbed her head.

"Didn't you hear Zen earlier?" Craig smiled stupidly again.

"And now we're going to rip you apart limb from limb." Tails thwacked a training staff hard into the rabbit's stomach.

"At least you two are up." Craig sweatdropped as Sora and Tails readied for another attack.

---

The bleachers in the Inner Arena were packed full despite the fact it was 6:00 in the morning.. Interested members of the Guard and Advanced Wings had come to see who would one day be taking their place and to cheer on the students. Every member of both Wings had attended the Academy and knew how awful things could actually be on a day like today.

A certain section amongst the leftmost side was set aside specifically for resident Ka Masters, Brent and Sharpear looked on moderately amused as Cume began his Drill.

"All right." One of the judges shuffled some papers. "Battle patterns, basic. Show some enthusiasm behind what you've got and don't be that nervous. It's just a dummy."

The small desk the judges' used was in the exact center of the ring instead of being in the more commonplace front. By blocking off the middle, where most everybody tended to gravitate after an attack or battle pattern, this forced the overall strategy of the presentation to change a little, albeit not by much.

"Oh." The judge smiled a little darkly. "And try not to end up like Savan 'eh?"

A small rippling laugh came from the crowd, mostly from the people who knew the phony story...and Cume.

"1....2....3....1....1...2....3...." Under his breath, Brent followed along with the rhythm of the attacks as they bounced the large formation of plastic that was set up for the battle patterns.

"Cume's not half bad." Sharpear nodded.

"..He certainly doesn't look stressed." Brent smirked. "But than again Cume puts stress on other people."

The pattern continued in a predictable motion until finally the first 15 minutes were up.

Another judge spoke up. "All right, let's see what you've got in the way of tech."

A middle-aged ermine walked into the ring, swinging a battered Ka Staff.

"Ketwen's not looking too good." Brent noted.

"Would you after fighting students since 4:30?" Sharpear yawned. "He's tiring me out by just looking at him."

Cume entered Drive quickly and came at Ketwen with a Heavy Swing. Easily blocking it, the small rodent backed up and countered with a Heavy Swing of his own. Cume stepped out of the way and entered Drive again.

Ketwen yawned again and prepared to block the oncoming swing to his head.

Except it turned out the staff had just flown straight into his ribs.

A collective gasp came out of the audience which seemed to suck all the air out of the room. The judges reeled back in confusion.

"Excuse me, Mr. Avala....This is not a sparring match. The counter attacks are only used to see if you can defend yourself." One of the judges looked up at the duck. "Please stick to merely using techniques."

"That was a technique." Ketwen looked up.

"That wasn't a Mirage Swing if that's what you think he was trying to do. A Mirage Swing is made so that it is an illusion. He merely stepped to the side and..."

"It's called fighting intelligently." Ketwen held his ribs as he turned around to face the judge's table. "It's the best technique you can possibly have."

The judge sighed in frustration. "Please don't give us the "wise old mentor" act. Just get on with it."

"Ketwen never stood up for us like that when we were still studying." Brent shook his head.

Sharpear shrugged. "He got a little nicer during the past 3 years."

"Wow. Ketwen, nice? What else did I miss?"

"Not much." Sharpear's voice was hinted with a tinge of anger. "Unless you count some of the best times that ever happened here that would've been infinitely better if we were sure that you were alive."

"Oh boy, not again." Brent stood up and created a bauble, being careful not to distract anyone. "I can tell when to leave."

"Just don't leave for 3 years again." The dog mumbled to himself and refocused on the scene below.

---

"Ow. Ow...ow...ow....ow...ow...." Craig listed off the words with a deadpan voice as he was constantly pummeled with blow after blow from Tails and Sora. "Can we PLEASE do something else now?!"

"No." Sora smirked as the attacks continued.

"Yeah, this is a tad boring." Tails stood down. "Hey Sora, if you're so nervous about the whole thing why not just practice right now?"

"I am." Sora flung her training staff at the short rabbit again. "Can you tell I've been hitting Craig in battle patterns?"

"Yes, and it's very painful." Craig mumbled finally grabbing the staff out of Sora's paws and stood up, rubbing his head.. "Just stop it already. It hurts to move now."

"That's not good." An attendant overheard the conversation. "Craig Ias right? You're up next, try not to get killed."

"And why didn't you tell me this?!" Craig swung around to face Tails.

"We still have 45 minutes, you didn't seem that nervous so I never told you." Tails said a little apologetically.

"I WASN'T that nervous!" Craig flailed his arms.

"You still have about 45 more minutes." Sora shrugged.

"Great, more time to worry about it than." Craig mumbled.

"I suppose we could figure out something to pass the time. Does anybody have any long overbearing flashback like stories that would be perfect for filler?" Tails offered.

The two looked at him blankly.

"I think Gil once ate a fork....." Sora started and than broke off. "You know Craig we never really heard much about you."

"So what, you just want me to talk about my past? Besides you already know what your aunt and uncle did for me."

"Just add the details...or if you like I can get back to practicing." Sora smiled deviously.

The tiny rabbit sat down at the table. "Dad's an "amateur archeologist", as he would say. He got a pretty huge inheritance a while back, and just likes to try anything new. He travels a lot now, I don't really get to see him. Mom's even worse. Since Dad's gone, she's been trying to run a deli out of our house. I think her brain's finally snapped.. Anyway I just learned about this place through word of mouth. And I happened to qualify for...a scholarship?" He tried

Sora looked at him.

"Don't say you're too proud to except charity."

"It's not charity! Well not really...." Craig sighed. "Look, like I said, we're pretty well off financial wise, my parents just thought it would be a waste of time to come here, so..."

"You asked the richest people you know to back you up." Tails nodded.

Craig nodded also, in response. "I've known Zen and Gil for a while, I just met Sora when I walked into the Academy...she decked me with her training staff."

"I needed to break it in." Sora shrugged.

"Anyway Mrs. Lateri, that's Sora's aunt, figured I needed something to do anyway lest I start digging for dinosaur bones in chicken salad sandwiches. So she put forth a little tuition, just enough to get me here. That's why all I have in my dorm is a cot and a few blankets. Unlike some people..."

"Hey I just mooch off of a salary. I don't have a dime to my name, and never really did." Tails crossed his hands in front of his face.

"Speaking of which, what's your past?" Sora swung the subject around.

The kitsune cleared his throat. "I've got a little too much past for just 45 minutes."

"Short version than?"

"I'm not sure how you can condense evil ducks, time at an orphanage, and 7 years of traveling into something short. Let's just say my life pretty much sucked until a bi-plane crashed into West Island."

"How in the world does that improve your life?" Craig raised an eyebrow.

"I'm warning you if I start this story we won't be done for days." Tails backed up a bit. "Besides there I some things I'd..... rather not remember."

"Aww, an angsty past." Sora rolled her eyes. "So what else is new?"

"You're awfully uncaring Sora." Tails laughed. "Lord knows why me and Craig stick around you."

"Because all three of us are social outcasts, and you really couldn't do better?" Sora grinned. "After all this is ME you're talking about."

"Yeah, sure." Tails sweatdropped.

"Physically impossible." Craig laughed.

---

Back at the Inner Arena, Cume and Ketwen finally both stood down and shook hands. (_A/N- Let's just say they're both wearing gloves. Remember Cume doesn't have paws..)_

"Not half bad kid." Ketwen said to the duck as the applause from the stands started. "Just keep a little more form out there and you've got a spot in Guard Wing."

Cume smiled. "Uh, thanks Ketwen-Ka." Finally walking off, Cume wiped some sweat off his forehead before going out the doors.

Ketwen retreating to the back, noticed a bauble coming out of nowhere.

"Oh, you huh?" The ermine looked at the cat as he stepped out.

"Yeah, nice to see you too?" Brent frowned a bit.

"No, trust me. It's not." Ketwen yawned. "You take the next one I'm beat."

"But I'm not scheduled, I just came to ask...."

"Take the next one." Ketwen said simply walking off.

"Exactly why you...stood up for...Cume." Brent stopped as he realized Ketwen didn't care if he was Roddis himself. Finally resigning to the idea he stepped up to the judge's table to inform them of the sudden change in opponents.

---

Craig finally stumbled back into the waiting room, obviously exhausted from the whole ordeal.

"Bleh." He finally collapsed 3 inches from the table.

"Have fun?" Cume smirked. "C'mon Ketwen-Ka isn't that bad."

"I know but he quit before my turn. Guess who they replaced him with?!" Craig managed to pick up his head staring angrily at Tails.

"I don't know what he does in his spare time, give me a break!" The fox looked a little worried. "Uh, are you sure you're okay?"

"DO I LOOK OKAY?!"

"Actually yes you do. Just making sure." Tails laughed.

"Wait a second." Craig pulled himself up from the floor. "Where's Sora?"

"Salah-Ka just came in and pulled her out." Craig shuddered. "You wanna know what I think?"

"No." Tails and Craig looked at Cume with a bored expression.

"Well than fine. You won't." The duck mumbled.

"Whose up next?" Craig asked Tails ignoring the other.

"Dane." Tails sighed. "20 bucks says he aces 'em."

"Against what I just went through? Make it forty he doesn't!" Craig nodded.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." The ferret passed by the table on his way out the door.

---

"What's going on? I need to get to Drills!" Sora was pushed in the room a little confused by everything.

"Canceled." Salah walked in behind her.

"By who?!"

"Me." A middle aged fox was sitting in a chair. "I figured it would be a waste of time and effort for all the important members out there."

Sora backed up. "I-I.... hope you rot in hell."

"She's right. You're a complete idiot." Salah stepped up beside her.

"Shut up, both of you. Do you know how easily I can get rid of you Ms. Eterna?" The fox placed his paws behind his head. "But thanks for getting her. You're a sucker for orders aren't you?"

"One more syllable like that you washed up moron and I'll serve your head to the Ta'Ka!" Salah narrowed her eyes.

"Washed up? Tell me Ms. Eterna, those experiments you do? Who finances them?"

"Not you." Salah said a little confused where he was going. "The Ta'Ka pay for it personally."

"Exactly. You think since I don't have anything to do with them at all not even money I couldn't affect them do you? But people, Eterna, people. Do you know that influence is the greatest power known to anybody, be they human or...well...not human."

"What did you want us here for anyway?" Sora finally sputtered out.

"You, SHUT UP!" the fox looked at Salah again. "NFE, her, now."

"No." Salah said smugly folding her arms.

"You don't seem to understand." Roddis entered the room. "Please continue the project. Official order."

Salah took a breath and swallowed. "Official order?"

"You know how it is. Ka Masters follow orders." Roddis said simply and leaned his back on the wall.

"So, a moronic idiot thinks he can finally have his way, and since it can let you continue your stupid pet project which you just want to use for yourself, you're putting a kid's life in danger. Ka Masters follow orders, huh?" Salah looked at him...and smiled. Taking her Ka Staff from her hip she simply handed it to the mouse. "I resign."

Roddis smiled also and swung the staff directly at her.

Salah merely grabbed it in her paws taking it back. "They never taught you how to stop that did they?" She laughed.

She was immediately knocked to the ground by a staff slamming into the back of her head.

Flipping straight back up Salah arched her footpaws and plummeted them into the older soldier's stomach.

Unphased the former solider attacked once more only meeting with a loud ring as the staff met Salah's armor.

"And they say it looks stupid." The wildcat smiled flipping her own Ka Staff back into her hands and swinging at him.

The staff past through a simple blue sphere like mist.

Listening closely Salah could hear the bauble emerge on her right side. The evidence was all too much he was going to use a Mirage Swing, but given this particular enemy's nature he was probably going to use something tricky like....

Jumping up quickly Salah managed to avoid the 4-Way Quake Swing that was aimed at her, aiming her staff directly for the top of the fox's head but found it all too soon blocked by a defensive Raining Swing.

All techniques depend on speed...if the feet were at any time injured the battle would be considerably shortened. Salah's footpaws had been twisted during her unsuccessful landing slowing her down far too much and she was soon on the ground, defenseless.

The withered fox smiled. "Influence is good. But strength also comes in handy." He took a small weight out of his pocket and tied it quickly to the end of the staff. "Even a little bit more can crush someone's skull."

He swung the staff at her, but found himself on the floor, a welt developing on his head. In his rush to attack he didn't realize that by swinging the staff he left himself defenseless, to a mere training staff of half the weight.

"Influence and strength, good things." Sora spat. "But you forget to mention it's handy to have a brain also."

"Crap." Salah struggled to get up and finally managed to stand and looked at Roddis who was in total shock. "Guess what's gonna happen to you."

"So naturally you're gonna stomp him into the ground?" The vixen asked with a cheesy grin.

"Bingo." Salah thwacked the mouse hard in the stomach knocking him flat down and out of breath. "Did Sharpear ever teach you how to tie that stupid knot of his?"

"Well I learned from Craig..sorta. But you need rope or vines..."

"Try dental floss it cuts into the skin."

"But they can break dental floss." Sora said a little confused.

"I know, I'm just being stupid." Salah laughed and walked over to the window in the office. "Here." She pulled the tassels off throwing them to Sora. "Any port in a storm right?"

"This'll work." Sora tied up the older fox and Roddis rather clumsily. "Uh, that's the way the unbreakable knot goes right?"

"If it that's the best Hatull could teach you I guess I messed up teaching him." Roddis spat.

"Yeah. Thankfully he got over that." Salah thwacked him with her staff again. "Keep an eye on them. I'm gonna try to get the others." She started to run out the door.

"And I'm following. These two creep me out." Sora joined her.

---

"In the right light all friends are enemies." Michael repeated from memory peeking out at the procession of Advanced and Guard Wing members. About twenty in all were in a escort formation both guarding Captain Eterna.

Except this time it wasn't to protect him.

"So the moron in control finally made his bid for power." Juro looked up. "I'll never get how they're more loyal to him."

"You remember the Daroun Conflict about a decade ago?" Michael said in almost blissfully irrelatively.

"I do." Mason stood up. "I'll tell you right now, I'd never thought a few Ka Masters could beat a modern army."

"That's exactly the point. All those rouge Ka Masters had were up to their ears in the original Factor Experiment. Made 'em stronger than you can possibly imagine. They all died within a month from health complications." Michael crouched down again. "Roddis' been continuing the experiment illegally with Vale and Karastil. You get Neo Factor. They perfected it just recently."

"My head hurts." Mason winced trying to make sense of it all. "I thought Vale was under arrest."

"I'm confused too." Michael laughed. "But as far I as can tell this is just the start of Daroun all over again."

"Than let's stop them." Juro spat. "I'm not gonna let a cheese eating maggot brained.......dumb person conquer anything."

"Wow, he'll never recover from that insult." Michael rolled his eyes. "But the point here is to stop Roddis anyone up for it?"

"Roddis is a pawn of Karastil's. Always was." Mason lifted his sword from his side. "Just let me cut up one."

"Give it time. We still have to get Axen out of there before something worse happens. It's bad enough he's been arrested." Juro looked on.

"Today of all days too. Last day of Drills." Michael looked back towards the Academy. "Not that bad an idea for either of them. With Eterna, and the rest of the Ta'Ka out of the way....not to mention the fact seventy percent of both Wings are watching what's going on inside....."

"It's pretty much up to us." Mason created a bauble. "Sure you guys are up for this?"

"A chance to be a hero again?" Juro smiled. "Why not?"

---

"Mkrgghh...." Or it least that's what it sounded like as Brent collapsed into a chair next to Sharpear in the Faculty Cafeteria.

"Glad the day's over than?" The dog smirked.

"My shift anyway." Brent mumbled. "I only lasted about half as long as Ketwen did. No wonder he wanted a break. That's one more Ka Group down."

"How'd the usual 3 do?"

"Tails and Craig passed, Sora never showed up but they still passed her. No clue, don't care." Brent yawned. "I'm just here to get a sandwich and get to bed."

"Uh..." Sharpear looked at his watch. "It's only 2."

Brent groaned. "I can't take it anymore. I swear if I have to swing that stupid staff one more time..."

"How about several?" Baubles suddenly appeared in triplicate revealing Michael, Juro, and Mason.

Brent once more stood mouth agape but only for a second as he quickly recovered and stood in an attack pose.

"Not against us Crayshen." Michael shook his head. "You seen Captain Eterna around today?"

"I- Wha? No." Brent blinked a bit and gritted his teeth.

"Really. Stop with the tough guy act." Michael said his face a picture of complete seriousness.

"Oh so you want me to kick your butt while telling jokes than?" Brent smiled darkly. "I can handle that."

"Brent Crayshen!" Michael finally barked. "Stand down and await further orders."

Through sheer force of habit, Brent started to comply.

"You graduated." Sharpear took a sip of the drink next to him.

"Uh, right." Brent cleared his throat and unhooked the Ka Staff from his hip. "Why come with talks of a truce? That doesn't make any sense for you guys."

"For the last time we're not going after you!" Mason shoved Michael aside stepping forward. "You've got a full-fledged revolt on your hands, Roddis and Karastil are going to dramatically increase their power, and Axen's being held hostage by some traitors. Make any sense to you now?!"

"No, actually that makes even less sense." Brent mumbled.

"Are you coming or not?!" The squirrel spat out while creating a bauble.

"What the hell? A little more chaos wouldn't kill me." Brent advanced towards the sphere. "You coming Sharp?"

Sharpear put down his drink and got up. "It would look bad if you saved the place and I just twiddled my paws."

"So you two don't have a clue of what's going on, you definitely don't know if you can trust us, and you're agreeing to all this?" Juro raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty much." Brent stepped into the bauble.

"He started it." Sharpear followed.

"I'll never understand how 6 kids virtually run this place." Michael shook his head.

"Because Ketwen, Caide and Gabe are too rich to even care." Juro laughed. "Makes you sorta wish we were still in good standing doesn't it?"

"Something doesn't make any sense." Mason stood in thought for a moment. "The day you guys attacked this place they could've drug you off in less than a hour. There wasn't a single search party sent out."

"Because Roddis made a decree." Salah ran into the room, Sora following behind her. "You guys are the next piece in the puzzle whatever it is."

"Great a whole reunion. Bring on Slak, Tyson, and Kura we don't want them to miss this." Michael narrowed his eyes. "Stupid kids. You don't even know what you're getting into do you?"

"I know enough to get Karastil and Roddis out of the way." Salah smirked.

"Hey!"

"Oh, right. Well technically she half of it." Salah jerked a paw towards Sora.

"You're bringing a trainee? Look they don't exactly offer insurance policies for war." Mason frowned.

"Look, just tell me where pops is and we can end this whole thing."

"Axen's been placed under arrest by Roddis."

"And the Wings are agreeing to this?!"

Michael sighed putting his paws behind his head. "It's a long story, and meanwhile Brent and Sharpear are out there probably getting torn apart because they rushed into battle without waiting for us first. We'll spill the secrets later, let's go before one of them gets killed." Michael stepped into the waiting bauble followed by the other two.

"Well I guess that's that than." Sora raced towards it.

"Nice try." Salah blocked her with her paw and stepped into the bauble dissolving it as she went through.

"Hey! You can't just leave me alone if jerkwad's gonna be prowling the place!" Sora yelled to an empty room and then realized what she was doing. "Why do I always do that?" She asked outloud to herself sitting down in an empty chair.

---

As usual Michael was right. Brent and Sharpear had rushed straight into the small crowd of Ka Masters and the two were not taking the whole "revolt" thing seriously.

"Ha!" Brent slammed the metal staff into a random soldier's face. "Hey Sharpear, how long does it take you to knock one down? One hit, two? Twenty-three?"

"Oh shut up." The canine stepped to the side as a Ka Staff came flying towards him. "I'm just conserving my energy that's all."

"Huh, really?" Brent kicked his footpaw out to catch a ferret in the stomach and send him flying.

"Really." Sharpear smiled and flung his Ka Staff at his opponent's feet, knocking them off balance.

"Lame." Brent scoffed. "Just try to keep up or I'll have beaten them already."

"I'm sorry you were saying something?" Sharpear spun his staff connecting with enemies in all directions.

Eventually the party was over for the two when they realized an important fact.

"They're not unconscious." Brent took a step back. "Why aren't they unconscious?"

"We've had training you know." A solider piped up from within the crowd. "It'll take more than a whiny cat and dog team to beat us."

"Let's shoot that up to two cats than." Salah suddenly jumped from nowhere into the fray decking the speaker in the face.

The group swarmed in on all three, weapons flying everywhere. It didn't take long before the skirmish was over and things had ended in less than a total victory for the trio, who were now bound with rope.

"Oh yeah. Rush on in. Brilliant McClellan." Salah spat at Brent as the march continued.

"You're not exactly Wellington yourself. Jumping facefirst into everything was stunning. Really." Brent rolled his eyes.

"Stuff it down your throat." Salah mumbled.

"Stuff it down your own throat." Brent stuck his tongue out.

"Stuff it down both of your throats and shut the hell up!" Sharpear made a feign kick at them.

"No fighting kiddies." A large bear thwacked them all on the heads with his Ka Staff.

"Seth?!" Salah turned her head as far as the strong ropes allowed.

"The great one has returned. Hey Crayshen, guess which one of us turned out to be a success!" Their captor laughed. "Too bad I couldn't find you in the last 3 years, or we'd be on the same side. Tell me again, which one of us claimed they stopped an army twice this size?"

"It's nice to see you too." Brent smirked. "Whatever happened to those aliens that you contacted with your Ka Staff?"

"All right I give in." The bear threw his paws up.

At least Seth hadn't changed. Well except for the whole "uprising" thing.

"And if I'm not mistaken, you've actually learned how to fight eh, Sammy?" Seth laughed pushing Sharpear a little bit.

"Better believe it. Wanna see me tear your leg off and beat you to death with it?" Sharpear growled.

"Uh, no." Seth took a few steps behind the three as they were being drug on. "And of course we have with us the Snobgirl. Still think you're dad's number one? Well now he's..."

"All right, I know you're going to make some sarcastic stupid cliche comment so just shut up and leave me alone because I can do a LOT worse than what Sharpear can." Salah flung her head menacingly.

"Eh...." Seth cleared his throat. "Quite the violent type isn't she?" He asked Brent jokingly.

"What? That's her good mood." Brent smirked.

"Good mood? I've never seen her so cheerful." Sharpear laughed.

"Just keep on marching dog-boy." Salah narrowed her eyes.

"Yes ma'am." Sharpear managed to squeak out.

===

RETROSPECTIVE

A three hour tour?! Isn't that a little....long?

===

We have an ACTUAL villain. Confused? Don't worry, much explained in the next chapter.

As for the "long, overbearing, flashback" scene with Tails, Craig and Sora, I based Craig's past a little off of Syme's (From G.K Chesterton's _The Man Who Was Thursday_) because that was one of the most brilliant pasts I've ever heard of, (If you grow up in insanity, chances are you'll revolt into normalcy), The Tails' past thing...I'm not even going to touch on that, but I put together a lot of pieces from various manuals, the Sonic 2 manga, etc. etc.

Oh, and I'd like to thank Spyinks for the summary change suggestion, you were right. The old one did suck.

Uh.....end..... just because I have nothing better to say....


	15. But Military Uprisings Are Worse

"You know I was thinking we should've jumped in there with Miss Eterna." Mason stood behind a wall with the Banelan brothers.

"I know what I'm doing, even if they don't." Michael nodded. "We have to stay around here. I don't think those students can handle Karastil."

"Haven't you seen those 3 fight?" Juro leaned back. "They're not that bad."

"All the same..." Michael started.

"The fox kit nearly killed Crayshen." Juro said before Michael could get out another word. "His only been on for about 4 months."

"We're not going to let a bunch of little kids get killed!" Michael created a bauble. "We have to do this ourselves."

"You know, I don't want to get killed either." Mason looked to the side. "Karastil's not exactly a cakewalk."

"Rule one. Keep the peace." Michael simply stated before heading for the sphere.

"Look, you can argue for hours on end about it but in the end, the entire system of the Advanced and Guard Wings makes us mercenaries whether we like it or not. Face it. 'Peace' is the side with the most cash Mike." Mason slumped against the wall. "It's not like we're great defenders of justice, or even defenders of our friends. We couldn't stop Karastil the first time, even to save somebody we all loved, we only managed to stop him after an award was out on his head."

"I know that." Michael stood next to the bauble. "But that doesn't mean we can't change does it?"

"We can't." Mason looked up at him. "You know we can't. It's who we are, it's our identity."

Michael thought for a moment and spoke.

"That has to be the dumbest thing that has ever came out of your mouth. Shut up and get in."

"You think he'll wake up anytime soon?" Sora prodded Karastil with her training staff.

"Yeah. Very soon. Especially if you keep poking him." Tails shook his head. "So what's going on?"

"The Wings are in revolt."

"You've been talking to Cume again haven't you?" Tails smirked.

"No. That came from that squirrel guy that hangs around the Banelans." Sora said smugly.

"There. That should hold him for a while." Craig finished re-tying the tassels on both the mouse and the fox. "And if it doesn't, than we're all dead."

"I almost honored he didn't forget about me. NFE 'eh? At least he cares that much." Sora kicked Karastil's body. "Cares enough only to have me turned into a stupid lackey! That NFE thing probably came with a side order of brainwashing!"

"Side order?" Craig sweatdropped.

"I don't know. It's a lack of imagination I guess." Sora scratched the back of her head.

"Great. I'm awake you know." Karastil mumbled sitting up. "And I can't put my arms up. I'll just wait here until they come for me, and then I'll kill you. Every last one of you."

"You're far from intimidating in that state." Craig laughed. "And what about him?" He pointed towards Roddis.

The mouse just stared.

"So we're captured. What are you three going to do about it?" Karastil looked at them.

"Practice!" Craig and Sora shouted in unison.

"And it won't be pretty." Sora took a step forward and hit her father in the head in a battle pattern. "1...2...3....2...1...1..2...2..." She counted off the pattern loudly clearly enjoying her revenge.

"2...1...2...3......Still awake? 1...1...1....1...1...1...1...1." She began a furious onslaught.

"Hold it!" Craig dragged his friend back, her staff still swinging mercilessly. "I still want my chance. Don't kill him yet."

"And why not?!" Sora tried to make a lunge for Karastil again but failed. "He deserves it."

"Those who don't value life don't deserve to live!" Tails shot up from behind them both. "That's something I'm not forgetting as long as I live and you two shouldn't either!"

"Good." Michael stepped into the room. "That was the intention of it."

"Just get those them out of here." Tails yelled at the wolf. "Get all of them out of here!"

"Tails? What's wrong?" Sora looked over at him.

"You're no better! Neither of you!" He pointed at Sora with an accusing paw. "You're just like him. For all your talk about revenge you're doing the exact same thing he would do to you! And you of all people...." the paw moved to Craig. "You're just an average kid thrown into everything, maybe you don't have an interesting past, maybe there's nothing that definitive about you but you've been a friend to everybody we've met, even Dane and Trask, you don't even know this guy and now you want to kill him?!" He looked at Michael. "You were right. Everything on this planet kills."

"I was confused about my life kid." Michael said softly. "I still am. Maybe Karastil doesn't deserve to live but in the end...."

"Oh shut up!" Roddis shouted from the corner. "As nice as it all is hearing you blab on and on about philosophical things that don't matter, I'm starting to get annoyed by all of you. You. Prower isn't it? What do you have to judge huh? What makes you so special? Banelan, you have more mood swings than a guy should have, and you two little brats are just filler! You're not even important enough. You're just here. Now will all of you just shut the hell up?"

"I have a reason for my existence!." Craig narrowed his eyes.

"He's right." Karastil smiled. "What have you two done that's so great? Did you pass any special exercises by yourselves? I've been watching all 3 of you. Sora, you're a Lateri and you let yourself get outdone by a freak of nature. What have you accomplished besides yelling at everybody? You, the short one. All you've done is sit there and make obvious comments. Tell me. What's different about you two? You're just all losers."

He had hit their fears dead on.

"He's right." Sora mumbled. "He can't be right can he?"

"No he's not!" Tails launched himself at the middle aged fox. "Don't do that to them!"

"Not you too!" Michael knocked Tails back against a wall and turned towards Karastil. "All you've managed to do is expose those kids' greatest fear. That's really amazing. You can torture students. Have you two ever thought about yourselves?"

"You just need to know one thing." Karastil smiled.

"And that's...?"

"This." The fox snapped the tassel off. "Thanks for the chat. Made an excellent distraction." Quickly creating a bauble the former solider vanished before them."

"Well?" Michael looked over at Roddis.

"Well what?" The mouse looked back.

"Aren't you even going to try and escape? You're finished as a Ka Master."

"You're just going to let me go?"

"Yeah. You can't do any harm to anyone now. Consider it a favor repaid." The wolf untied Roddis and the now ruined Ta'Ka member created a bauble.

"You're not stopping anything. The revolt's still on." Roddis shook his head.

"It won't be once the rest of the Wings catch on. No wonder you wanted them gone." Michael sat down in the ornate chair and leaned back.

"You're the next piece of the puzzle. You were there that night doing the explosion that killed O-Zero."

"His name was Taraku. Get it through your head, the NFE is just going to kill more people including the host." Michael's eyes became angry.

"That's the 'factor' part of Neo Factor." Roddis laughed. "Vale managed to figure it out. It..."

"Save the long overbearing speech for something climactic." Sora yelled.

"Fine. Figure it out on your own." Roddis stepped into the bauble disappearing.

"Well...." Tails thought for a minute. "I guess Stanson's in charge now. Oh great, Trask is going to really love that."

"Things just aren't working out today are they?" Craig smiled.

Michael got up from the chair and created a bauble. "Things aren't exactly peaceful right now, we gotta sort this all out. You 3 need to make sure not one student leaves got it?"

"That's not exactly something that's easy to do. Especially if the Guard and Advance Wings are rushing straight into a fight." Sora looked over at the wolf.

"Good point. Ketwen and that rat kid with the bombs should be enough to hold them back. You guys go get a hold of them."

"What about you?" Tails asked inquisitively.

"I've got some strings to cut." Michael baubled away.

"All right! We're gonna be legends for this!" Sora raised her fist.

"No we won't. We'll be forgotten and Trask'll take all the glory." Craig mumbled.

"Thanks for ruining it." Sora thwacked him with her training staff.

The march had continued in utter silence.

"Any clue where we're going?" Sharpear finally broke it whispering to the others.

"Where else? A battlefield." Salah sounded tense. "They're probably getting an early advantage or something."

"Not too enthusiastic about being captured by the losing side are you?" Brent smirked shuffling his shoulders a bit.

"Things aren't they seem." Seth watched them, apparently not caring if they talk. "We have more than a few tricks up our sleeves."

"What's the point?!" Salah looked at the bear. "You revolt and then what?"  
"We prove something to the entire world. After this? Things are gonna be different."

"Yeah, insane and disgruntled soldiers from a near-dead fighting style just killed perfectly sane and happy soldiers from a near-dead fighting style. I've read better things in tabloids." Salah gave a fake yawn.

"Ah..." Seth held up his paw. "Genetically enhanced insane, disgruntled soldiers."

"That makes a world of difference." Brent rolled his eyes. "Aren't you forgetting that the NFE isn't really a strength booster?"

"You don't know the 'Factor' part of Neo Factor do you? Taraku Lateri and a few others received the full treatment. They went insane. Turns out Vale was missing something. The NFE is effective if one adapts with it and functions with it. It can't be forced on anybody. Thus you failed to show any good results and..."

"Hold it. How did you know about...." Brent started.

"You learned every technique right?"

"No. A lot, yeah but not everything."

"Vale did a little digging into certain Ka Master's lives. For you the NFE was a placebo. A little self-esteem booster. Mostly though it's just dead weight you're carrying around."

"And you guys fully accepted the whole deal just for a little power?" Sharpear smirked. "That's pathetic."

"A little power?" Seth stopped smiling. "You ever hear of the Daroun Conflict?"

"The Ka Masters were hired to protect a convoy of..." Sharpear started in a bored voice.

"Wrong. It was like exactly like this is now. It was a revolt. And it went down into legend."

"Every member that participated in the Daroun Conflict is dead." Brent looked back at his former classmate.

"Well you take the good with the bad. I compromised my health, yeah but if....when....Vale figures out the last imperfection we'll be fine. I've still got about half a year, and Vale's a genius. I'm not worried." Seth smiled again. "Just think of it. Powerful modern technological wonders...all reduced to dust by a few metal sticks."

"Let's hear it for world domination folks." Brent laughed sarcastically.

Surprisingly the rest of the crowd broke into cheers.

"I WASN'T SERIOUS!" Brent quickly shut them up.

"But you hit it on the right note."

"You're not serious. Genetic enhancement or not, you're going to die." Salah said seriously.

"Who cares? I'll be TRYING to dominate the world. Lifelong dream ya know." The bear laughed.

"Since...." Sharpear left the sentence open.

"Since.....I don't know. Since you stuffed my Ka Staff up my nose!" Seth suddenly remembered something.

"Past coming back to haunt you Sam?" Brent laughed with the bear, his shoulders shuffling again.

"I forget how truly annoying you two were!" Salah squinted. "And I can't even block you guys out with my paws tied up."

"This all too perfect for revenge 'eh old buddy?" Seth's laughter died down.

"Yeah." Brent smiled. "You know what else?"

"What?" The bear looked over at him.

Brent shuffled his shoulders once more and the ropes broke. Jumping at the bear, he gave a powerful right hook to Seth's nose.

"I don't even know why I bothered hanging around you." The cat hissed, kicking him in the stomach and knocking him down senseless.

"Crayshen, you're a complete idiot!" Salah yelled. "You're surrounded."

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that part." Brent sweatdropped. "Uh...." He looked around at the crowd which seemed to be advancing on him.

"What's wrong? Run for it, fight, something!" Sharpear jumped up a little clumsily his bound body falling over.

"I can't think of anything heroic or remotely witty to say." Brent scratched his chin. "It's all in the motivation you know...."

"DO SOMETHING OR I'LL RIP YOUR TAIL OUT OF YOUR FREAKING BODY!" Salah screamed.

"Yes ma'am." Brent cleared his throat and stood in an attack pose. "All right. I'm going to die. How's that for a decision?"

Salah hung her head and sighed.

"Why don't you shut up Snobgirl? I don't see you breaking your ropes." Brent countered

"Hmm...let me think. Oh yeah. It's because we're surrounded!"

Sharpear got back on his knees and gradually stood up. "Uh...?"

"Look I'd love to save you but see these guys? They're bad. Thus the term "bad guys". You following me so far? Bad guys do not like to see us alive. I'm just trying to protect both of you."

"Since when did you become such a patron saint? You don't even have the real NFE DNA. You can't do a thing." Salah spat.

"Right. Like you can. You sit and teach and teach and whine and complain about everything to your dad. Tough life isn't it?"

"CRAYSHEN! ETERNA!" Sharpear finally made them turn their heads. "Look!"

The two cats looked around them. The rebelling Ka Masters had marched on without them, leaving Seth's unconscious figure behind.

"I guess they didn't care." Brent sweatdropped.

"Yeah? Well I still do." Salah struggled with her ropes for a bit until she broke free. "You okay there Sharp?"

The dog nodded and burst the ropes. "Not a problem."

"The Wings should be coming any given second. We're going with them." Salah said firmly.

"You do know that it's going to be a slaughter right?" Brent raised an eyebrow.

"The NFE isn't a strength booster. Actually it's more of a degenetive really." Salah sat down on the grass.

"So you were reading the report files." Brent sat down next to her.

"Wrong. I have some experience with the stupid thing okay?" The wildcat's voice broke a bit.

Sharpear quickly made a cutting motion across his throat.

"So..." Brent tried to change the subject. "Are your classes doing any..."

It didn't work. Salah burst out into tears.

"Ah, geez..." The white cat scratched the back of his head.

"Say something you moron." Sharpear slapped his forehead.

"Why do I have to do something? Why can't you?"

"Because.....I don't know. You're sitting right there."

"You're the one who knows what's going on, you should say something."

"I don't know what to say." The dog flailed his paws.

"Well how am I supposed to?" Brent shrugged.

"You two redefine the word ignoramus." Salah sniffed and pulled her knees up to her chin.

The two boys just stared at her in confusion.

"Not one of you gets through! Not one!" Slak set off another firecracker.

"Brilliant thinking bringing him into the mix." Sora covered her ears.

"At least he's keeping them back." Craig jerked his paw at the wave of students who were watching the Wings depart.

"Yeah he's keeping half of Guard Wing back too." Tails sighed. "This is ridiculous. We should be out there. They want us to gain experience right?"

"A little skirmish like this? The Wings'll smash 'em flat." Sora stifled a fake yawn.

"Given Roddis' record though, those guys were probably doused with the NFE." Craig thought for a minute. "If it does what it's supposed to do...."

"Has it yet?" Sora rolled her eyes. "That whole NFE crap is a waste of time and money. I refuse to hear another word about it!"

"Too bad." Tails tapped his chin. "I kinda want to know what's going on with it in the first place. It's really confusing."

"Fine. Than check the report files." Sora stuck her tongue out. "Like that'll ever happen." She turned around. "I gave up on the whole mess a long time ago. Now let's get a bite to eat....guys?" Turning around she noticed the two were gone and a rapidly shrinking bauble was in their place. "I hate them." She sighed to herself and quickly jumped into the sphere it before it vanished.

It emerged in the lab. The recent events had created an impromptu shutdown. Half of every console was turned off and a few desk lamps were still on, but for the most part the place was empty. Stanson had pulled them out to join the Wings.

"Well, this defines perfection." Tails laughed.

"It's just one of those moments in the universe that happen every know and then." Sora looked around.

"If this could be any better at all, we'd know the entry codes to the system." Craig shook his head judgmentally.

"And guess what?" Tyson was suddenly standing next to them. "You got 'em."

"Ahh!" The three cringed a little, apparently scared by the otter's appearance.

"Figured you guys would be here." Tyson scratched the back of his head. "And I also figured with everything going on you might want to do a little research."

"Nailed it." Sora smiled. "Hey, how do you have the entry codes if you don't even work down here?!"

"The Academy's in complete disarray right now. Security's at an all time low." Tyson said simply and handed them a sheet of paper. "Hope that's enough for you."

"Hold it." Tails stopped him as the otter created a bauble. "Why just give us these?"

"....You'll find out soon enough." Tyson stepped through the bauble disappearing.

The three looked at each other.

"That was EXTREMELY creepy." Sora shuddered.

"Yeah..." Tails walked over to a working console. "But it was a good thing. Let's just get the info." He sat down in one of the chairs and started typing at the keyboard to request a search command. "Holy crap..." The fox stared at the massive list that suddenly appeared.

Exactly 1240 matches found.

"How much info did we want again?" Craig raised an eyebrow.

Salah remained as she was just sitting, not crying anymore, just sitting.

"Listen, are you gonna be alright?" Brent asked her.

The wildcat nodded slightly.

"I think she's out of it." Sharpear looked concerned.

"We could just leave her here. If she opened her mouth and laid on her back she'd make a good birdbath." Brent looked at her and shook his head.

Salah, still sitting down swung her staff at his legs.

"Yergh!" Brent hopped a little bit. "Me thinks she's a tad better."

"Uh...yeah." Sharpear raised an eyebrow "Are we gonna go into this thing or not?"

"Let's see...a couple hundred Ka Masters are going to duke it out for superiority. Not my taste." Brent smiled. "On the other hand, she won't let us run away." He jerked a paw towards Salah.

"So we get a perfect view of a massive battle with full option to join in at any time." Sharpear thought for a minute. "Today is just dragging on by isn't it?"  
Brent looked back at the armored wildcat.

"Okay Salah. I don't know what's going on, but it's pretty much a given that all of us have something weird in our past."

Salah fell straight back, slamming her head against the ground.

"You just don't get it Fatmouth. Whatever you've done I can grantee you I've beaten it."

"It can't be that bad."

"I..."

"Scrambled the NFE code to make Vale look bad and get a promotion." Brent smiled. "Surprise. Not everything's a secret."

"That's not what happened." Salah said quietly and looked to her left.

"Oh great." Sharpear mumbled as a rush of Advanced and Guard Wings came towards them.

"Any clue where the other guys stopped? I don't exactly want to be in the middle of this." Brent winced at the thought.

"The marching sounds died out about an hour ago. They're a few miles out of here." Sharpear waved a paw dismissively.

"Every one of them......idiots." Salah shook her head.

"Have a little pride in what you're fighting for." Brent looked at her judgmentally.

"Me?" Salah smiled. "Do you want to know exactly what the hell's going on?!" She suddenly leapt up.

The Wings were now passing them, totally focused on moving ahead.

"Uh, it's not like it's really a big deal..." Brent sweatdropped.

"Oh, it's a big deal." Salah said flatly. "It's a very big deal."

****

Project Name- Factor Experiment/Neo Factor Experiment

Developers- Eterna, Meora

Vale, Richard

The project was partially conceived by Richard Vale in 198X. Designed as a way to give an extra helping hand or a genetic "boost" to Ka Masters who considered below normal strength levels. The orders to commence the physical project were given by Karastil Lateri, the first test subject to be one of his own distant relations, Taraku Lateri.

"Heard it, know it, read it..." Tails clicked the close button and went on the next file.

"You think the report files would be a tad more interesting." Craig smiled and scratched the back of his head.

****

The test subject's body however refused to accept the Neo Factor Experiment in it's entirety and the genetic enhancements slowly began to drive the subject insane.

"Yeah, yeah. I know all that." Brent sat down on the grass.

"You haven't heard the rest." Salah narrowed her eyes.

****

Project directors Richard Vale and Meora Eterna rescued Taraku before too much damage was done. The process was immediately reversed. Since the Ta'Ka have deemed that no one would ever receive the entire set of enhancements, instead only selects like speed or strength. There have been a few exceptions however, the first and foremost being Karastil Lateri. Richard Vale was asked to take on the operation.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Tails stopped scrolling down. "Hey Sora! You might wanna check this out!"

****

Oddly enough, this time the subject, Karastil, did not experience a relapse of sanity or strength. Instead the being in question fulfilled the original desires of the project. Exactly 6 months later the genes "absorbed" themselves into the subject. The effects seemed to disappear and since the project is impossible to repeat on the same subject, it was deemed a failure.

"Wait a sec, if Taraku was cured than what happened to Mike and Juro that night?" Sharpear looked over at his two companions.

"They don't even know..." The wildcat smirked.

****

However it turned out that Karastil had in fact not lost the effects. Eventually the genes reappeared as if out of nowhere. Karastil's mind and body, already shaken up from the sudden gain and loss of incredible power, began to eat away at his sanity. Taraku Lateri in an attempt to stop the subject from going completely berserk confronted him. He was found dead the next morning.

Tails, Craig and Sora stared at the information on the screen, mouths agape.

"That's a twist." Craig cleared his throat and broke the silence. "Keep going."

Tails nodded and continued to scroll down the screen.

****

After recovering a few weeks later, Karastil then ordered the common files altered, and this very report file, along with all other report files dealing with the Factor Experiment, to be locked with the highest security code that only individuals involved in the Alternate Council, including himself could reach.

Brent laughed. "You have got to be kidding me. Alternate Council?! I think my mom used to scare me with that when I tracked mud into the house. I can't believe you thought we'd fall for that."

Sharpear shook his head judgmentally. "Really Salah, you put us through all that for nothing?"

Salah smacked her forehead. "You don't believe it? You want evidence?"

The two boys nodded.

"Too bad. They don't leave evidence." She said smugly crossing her arms.

"Yeah, because it's not real." Brent said slowly.

"Ask pops." Salah looked to the side.

"Why is he on it?" Brent started to laugh and then suddenly stopped. "...No."

The armored cat nodded.

"But if he's on the Alternate, than why does he put up with the Ta'Ka?" Brent's eyes went into confusion.

"Because." Salah looked at him amused. "They don't have nearly as much influence as you think they would."

"Uh, yeah right." Brent's tail twitched a bit as he scratched his head.

****

Director Eterna refused to do so. Karastil knew she was the last barrier standing in his way, if she talked than he would be forever ruined and the Alternate Council would be ridiculed. He bought in the one thing closest to her. Director Eterna's daughter Salah, who was at that time working as an intern while she apprenticed under her Ka Master. Carefully doing his research, Lateri found that Salah's reaction to the NFE would be the same as Taraku's. She would go berserk. After having her drugged and operated on, he then set her loose on her own mother. The next day------

"I won't read another line!" Tails clicked the close button returning to the desktop.

".....There's only one thing wrong. If that oaf killed Taraku, then what were the Banelan brothers fighting 3 years ago?" Sora slumped down in a chair.

"Probably some ploy Karastil or Roddis put on." Tails spat. "I won't read it again. I won't, I won't, I won't. We've gotta trust everyone on our side."

"What about if she snaps again?" Craig said quietly, deep in thought.

"She...she won't. The project must have been reversed. Like Taraku. Karastil would have to do that to cover things up." Tails shook his head. "I won't read another line." He said again, quite coldly. "I've found more than what I wanted to."

"Don't go blabbing a word of it around." Sora's eyes became serious for once losing their usual edge. "The Alternate will be breathing down your back faster than you can spin your tails to get away. Their a bunch of weridos."

Craig sighed.

"What's wrong with you?" Sora turned around to face the rabbit, her face now apparently back to normal.

"....My parents may be weird....but...look it's about my brother...." He started out of the blue.

"What the hell does that have to do with...." The vixen suddenly stopped cold. "You're not serious."

The rabbit nodded. "That's why I took the loophole with your aunt and uncle. The Alternate's that serious about keeping things under wraps."

Tails nodded slowly. "What do they do exactly?"

"I don't know."

"What'ya mean you don't know? Haven't you listened to anything Cume's said in the past 3 months? Any good paranoid here knows that." Sora looked over at the rabbit judgmentally. "Wait a minute, your brother?"

"Even I've heard weird things." Tails nodded. "They control mass amounts of influence within every nation the Ka Masters have ever worked for, they literally have the power to start or end war."

"I'm pretty sure those are lies." Craig shook his head. "The Alternate don't hold influence any more I know that much. But they're up to something. Something that made him quit whatever it was."

"That'd make your parent

"We can always find out." Sora jerked a thumb at the computer. "How about a little searching on the Alternate Council?"

"Works for me." Tails turned around in the swivel chair and started typing again.

The three trudged on unaware a certain otter was watching them from a few feet away.

Tyson sighed. The trio paid no attention. Even if they knew he was there, they were purposely ignoring him.

Things weren't meant to go this far. Captain Eterna would have his staff for this.

The strange thing was, he really didn't care.

What was there to care about? A reputation in a dead fighting style? He was doing more good right now than he had done in a while anyways.

Sometimes you never know who's going to stand up to the world and take it on.

Tyson felt the answer to that was right in front of him.

"So there it is. My slice of the angsty past deal." Salah sniffed again folding her arms.

".....Well...." Brent opened his mouth and than shut it again.

".....Yeah..." Sharpear tried the same thing.

"Look..." Brent started again. "I'm not going to pin anything on you but if I were you I wouldn't sit around and mope about it all...hey!" Sharpear smacked the cat in the head.

" You know, this would be a great time to actually stop being an idiot and help somebody." The dog looked at Brent judgmentally.

"Dear God, I hate these types of conversations." Brent mumbled. "Okay, maybe I didn't say it right. You should just GET OVER....Would you stop doing that?!" Brent rubbed his head and wheeled around to face Sharpear.

"You know, if you actually had half the guts to reveal what you've been through, I wouldn't stop you. But Salah's a lot stronger than you for the sole fact she just did what you won't. Understand?"

"Well first of all, there's not much of my past that you guys don't already know, and Snobgirl's made 70 percent of that up."

"WHAT?!" Sharpear leapt up in anger. "After all that? She just trusted you with her own dark secrets and you...."

"Do you honestly think that I wouldn't already know my best friend's secrets?" Brent laughed a bit.

"All the same you're being....wait a second, BEST friend? What am I, something Slak pulled out of the oven?"

"You're a whiny dog that's trying to hang on to his fast declining tough guy image, and doesn't have a clue of what's going on." Brent said flatly.

"Fast declining huh?" Sharpear tackled Brent to the ground. "How about you take that back?!"

"Aha! You see what this is?! You think just cause I'm a cat I'm going to run away from...the big scary doggie oh no, woe is meeeee...." Brent rolled his eyes and slashed his claws at Sharpear's nose.

"Yeah, that's a classic." Sharpear kept him pinned while he wept his nose with the pack of his other paw.

Salah just watched and smiled.

They were the stupidest idiots alive and somehow, that's what kept her going.

Of course that probably made her an idiot herself.

Nah, she was perfectly fine.

Michael hated it.

The wounded, the dying, utter confusion, despair, and hatred.

For the first time in 3 years he was back in a conflict, just a few miles withdrawn from the Academy, at Parlin. Rolling woods, high cliffs, armies fighting.

And it just wouldn't end.

It didn't matter how many people you could take down with the staff, it didn't matter how many people you could SAVE with the staff. First and foremost you had to survive.

Michael thought that he'd been doing a pretty decent job of it so far. The guys attacking him had dwindled down at least, he was only being assaulted once every 4 seconds now. That didn't nessercarily mean the Wings were winning against this little revolt, it just meant he wasn't dead.

So far from what he had seen, the NFE had served one purpose, to annihilate tactics.

The rebelling party charged straight into the Wings, thinking they could slaughter them. Instead, the opposite occurred. It's not very smart to run into an army headfirst. They had come to their senses soon enough and the real battle had started. There was no real way to tell the enemy from ally except for the fact most of the loyal Wing members still wore their bandanas, but normally when you try to impale someone, you don't look for a piece of cloth.

Needless to say, they were a few incidents of "friendly fire" which Mike supposed in this case, would be...uh....hitting the guys on your side with a staff and injuring them very badly until they start cussing you out.

He was never very good at creating new phrases.

Those thoughts poked their way into the wolf's head anything, anything at all to just block out the fighting. Anything. Opera, TV, the kids back at the Academy bless their hearts, anything at all, just not fighting.

Stay alive.

That's all he tried to do. No sense in killing if they're not going to kill you.

Just stay alive. Stay alive.

And pray they don't kill anybody else.

"Nothing, nada....empty." Tails tried another search.

"This is grating on my nerves." Sora held her head. "Can we please go back up now? It's nearly dark, the Wings might be coming back anytime now."

"Look, it is really boring." Craig folded one ear down, then the other and finally sprang both back up again.

"Not a thing on 'em, huh?" Tyson finally spoke up.

No response. Yeah, they were ignoring him all right.

"Hey, c'mon I gave you guys the stupid entry codes."

"Are you on the Alternate, Tyson-Ka?" Sora asked without turning around.

"Uh...no." Tyson shook his head.

"Oh. Okay than." Sora turned around and leapt off the chair. "Good enough for me."

"Yeah well me too." Tails finally shut down the computer.

"Trust me. I'd know if you were." Craig looked up and created a bauble.

"No, you wouldn't." Tyson shook his head. "I can't even keep it all straight sometimes. With the divisions in the Council right now, it's surprising they don't.....go....to....war." The otter smacked his forehead. "Okay, how come this never became that clear until now?"

"Your awesome stupidity got in the way of things?" Sora stifled a laugh.

"Not funny Lateri."

"Lighten up." The vixen lightly punched him in the stomach on her way to the bauble.

"Can someone at least say 'thank you'?" Tyson swung around to face them.

"You mean thanks for something that you were probably ordered to do?" Tails turned around also.

"I was doing this on my own acc-" Tyson started.

"You're not a member of the Alternate, but it's way too obvious you work for 'em." Tails' eyes grew darker.

"Really? And how do you know?" Tyson shot back.

"It's because you gave us the entry codes. No doubt this was something set up by Captain Eterna to try and drag us onto his side." The fox just stared at his superior.

"Well, that's really nice. You think you have everything figured out huh?" Tyson sat down in one of the swivel chairs and put his paws behind his head.

Sora and Craig came over to them, the bauble, forgotten started to shrink into nothingness.

"I've learned enough from my life that things are never black and white." Tails sat down in a chair opposite to Tyson. "Ever hear about shades of gray?"

"Try telling that to the guy who tried to turn his own daughter into a mindless zombie." Tyson jerked a paw at Sora.

"NFE. Neo Factor Experiment, created by two people. Richard Vale and Meora Eterna. Partially conceived by Vale. So what did Meora do?" Tails leaned back in the chair.

"Hold it, is this the 'what does the NFE do?' debate or an argument over what's right?" Tyson bought his paws to rest at his side and slowly sat up straight.

"Keep the peace, trust your friends, leave your legacy." Tails leaned forward, his eyes sparkling again. "We know what Vale's was. So what did Eterna leave behind?"

"I still don't get where you're going with this." The otter's eyes remained in confusion.

Behind them the bauble gave a faint 'puff' and disappeared.

"There's a fail-safe. Eterna managed to finish a fail-safe. That's why it's the Neo Factor Experiment. Why Karastil could recover, why some people haven't snapped.....and it's going to change what's going to happen today. The Wings will win, and I don't mean just win....it's gonna be a route." Tails finished.

"Huh. You got the future wrapped around your paw don't you?" Tyson smiled. "Pretty amazing that you figured all this out through a file that mentioned nothing about it. There was a fail-safe planned. Meora never got it finished."

"I didn't say Meora, did I?" Tails smiled. "The one person with the motivation to do it would've finished it. The only person who just didn't see what the power could do to you, it's the person who was that power. One who knows how everything works."

"Holy crap." Another realization hit Tyson, sort of like being crushed by two boulders in the same day. "The Snobgirl herself, huh?"

"The NFE isn't a strength booster. It doesn't accelerate your learning potential. It degenerates. It consumes, feeds, destroys. The Neo Factor Experiment when performed in it's entirety, is a genetic death sentence." Tails delivered the final blow.

All 3 animals looked at him, mouths agape.

"It's just a guess." Tails scratched the back of his head.

"That has got to be one of the coolest guesses I've ever heard." Craig shook his head. "And I'm friends with Cume."

"I'm not sure I get it. So there were 2 people working on this thing, and one died....." Sora held her head in confusion.

"....And the one who killed that person, finished her work." Tyson whispered silently. "That's incredible. How did you....How....?"

"I told you it's a guess. Sometimes my brain works a little faster than my mind. Uh, did any of you understand what I just said, cause I'm not sure if I did..."

"Yeah, I got it." Tyson waved him off. "But this whole thing started off with you about to say something about Axen right?"

"There's two choices right now. Side with Captain Eterna, or side with Karastil. Both of them are using the soldiers to their own ends. The winner gets control over every Ka Master on Earth. Karastil would have them go off on a pipe dream of world conquest. The captain would just as soon let the whole thing die out. Either way, in about a year, there won't be an Academy. Heck, there won't be a single legal Ka Master either." Tails shrugged. "Life's weird huh?"

Tyson smiled. "We leave those two to their games and we really are toast. But what if I told you that there was a little color in the shades of gray?"

"What? Now you're getting all philosophical too?" Sora looked over at her master. "This day is getting weirder by the second."

The otter turned around to face her. "It's not half as weird as the rest of the year's gonna be."

Over? Yeah it was over.

Thank God.

The resistance or rebellion, or whatever the hell it was you wanted to call the enemy could've killed Axen at any time. Apparently he was just the bait.

Anyone still dedicated to any ideals, retreated in true Ka Master fashion, baubling away to where you can't find them.

Mike breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against a rock letting his staff hit the ground with a loud ring.

Why was he doing this? Even if the enemy had won, they wouldn't have gotten very far before getting stomped on by a real army.

Protection, wasn't it?

What was it he wanted to protect?

The kids? The fighting style?

His own idiotic pride?

Nevermind, it was too sobering to think about.

They had finally reached the Academy gates.

It had only been a few miles, but the day had obviously taken it's toll on everyone.

"Dear God, I'm gonna collapse before I reach my bed." Brent yawned. This was no time to be making a bauble, not unless you wanted to rip yourself apart in the process.

"Whatever. I'm just glad this whole day's...." Salah's eyes suddenly grew big. "RUN!"

"What? Is something after me?" Brent sprung up.

"No, the Run!" Salah smacked her forehead. "We never set anything up, it's in a week!"

"Forget it." Sharpear opened the doors and they all entered stumbling up to the faculty apartments.

"It's one of the most important tests we have here, and we don't have a thing ready." Salah mumbled.

"Maybe it's because our only army tried to revolt!" Brent yelled at her and yawned again. "I can't take it. See ya guys." He finally walked off to his room.

"Ditto." Salah started down the hallway to her own.

"Night guys, don't let the disgruntled soldiers bite!" Sharpear laughed as he faded from view.

"Very witty!" Both cats called out in unison before entering their rooms.

===

No Retrospective as there's nothing much to say. But I can still end it with something weird.

Like the word "Blergh"


	16. More Proof We Never Stick To Anything

"Stupid maze." Brent grumbled as he stepped on one of the specialized tiles.

Nothing.

He tried again, this time stomping on it....nope this one was out too.

"Hey Salah! We got another defective piece of crap!" He flipped open his radio.

"Where at?" Salah's voice was as tired as his was.

"I don't know. What'ya want me to do, give you coordinates?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know how to work coordinates. I hate math."

From the radio, Salah sighed. "Alright, what _section_ are you in?"

"I...don't....know!" Brent said angrily slowing down his words.

"Than how am I supposed to know where the hell the stupid tile is?!" Salah yelled, bits of static intertwining with her voice.

"Considering the fact, I'm looking at the back of your head right now..." Brent waved a paw as Salah turned around.

She flipped off her radio.

"Don't waste the battery." She sighed again walking towards him.

"And always use a coaster." Brent rolled his eyes. "Lighten up. Seriously."

"Stanson's gonna have our heads if we don't do this right! Can't you shape up and take your job...I don't know....seriously?!" Salah leaned down and knocked on the tile.

"Not here. Out of all the exercises, this is the one I hate the most. It's cliche, it's stupid, and trap tiles?! It's like some lame first-person RPG." Brent grumbled.

"Don't knock the classics. I can spend hours on Wizardry." Salah got up. "Well great. What else can go..."

"You're inviting irony to come in and slap you in the face." Brent clasped a paw over her mouth before she could go any further.

She gave him a look that in essence said. 'Get your slimy paw off my face or I will rip your gobelatter out and play dodgeball with it.', which is a very frightening look if you've ever seen it before. Brent could do nothing but oblige.

"What's this thing supposed to do anyway?" Brent rapped on the blue tile.

"I don't know, it's been 3 years since I've gone through this thing." Salah shook her head. "And I pray to God, I never have to do it again."

"Hey, compared to the Battle Royale, this was nothing." Brent's eyes grew a bit.

They both exchanged a knowing smile.

"Well yeah, it's not the Battle Royale, but it's still miserable. I honestly think that if we all get personalized versions of Hell, I'll be going through mazes forever." Salah grumbled.

"It's not that bad. It only took you, me and Tyson about 4 days to get out of here."

"4 days stuck with you? Yeah, Hell." Salah laughed a bit.

"What? You loved every second of it." Brent stuck his nose in the air a bit and smiled cheesily.

"Get over yourself." Salah laughed again and knocked on the tile once more. It crumbled away into what seemed to be nothingness. "Pitfall." She wrote something down on the clipboard she was carrying.

"Won't we need to replace that?" Brent raised an eyebrow.

"We've only got a few days to set this thing up, and it looks like the Ta'Ka aren't going to offer us any more cash for a while." Salah got up and stretched a bit. "The budget to keep the whole place afloat is super-tight right now."

"Okay, let me get this straight. Stanson's replaced Roddis, so who's got the third position?"  
"No one important. Just some captain from Advance Wing." Salah smiled.

"Oh boy. You're not gonna stop bragging about it now, are you?"

"Not a chance."

"Seriously though, your dad'll do a pretty decent job. More work for him though."

"Yeah, don't remind me." Salah said quietly and walked forwards a little. "I mean it's only temporary until we can wrap up this year, but all the same...."

Brent turned around heading the other way.

"I'm...uh...gonna go check on some more...stuff." He tired walking off.

Please no, please no, pleeeaase no, his mind raced.

"It's just that..." Salah started.

Crap.

Brent sighed a little and walked back towards her.

"I never really got to know him much, ya know? I was always hanging around Mom in the lab and pops....well pops was just....there."

Cliche, cliche, cliche. Why did everyone here have to have an eventful past? It was times like this Brent wished he was born into a family of accountants. As far as he knew, no one killed each other over math. Of course, that would have to depend on him being able to do math in the first place.

"You're not listening to a word I'm saying are you?" Salah spoke not facing him.

"In all honesty? No."

"You're an idiot, you know that? Can't even take advantage of a fluffy moment." Salah laughed a bit.

"Sorry. Lately I'm getting really sick of all this overemotional crap." Brent scratched the back of his head.

"Any advice?"

"Live with it?"

"Wow. It's incredible. You have exactly half the IQ of eggplant." Salah shook her head judgmentally.

"You asked." Brent laughed walking away to the next part of the maze.

"Why did I not expect anything else?" The wildcat smiled to herself.

---

"I have a feeling that today is gonna be one of those day where there's absolutely nothing to do no matter how hard you look."

That judgment had come from Craig. The trio were walking down a random hallway with no clue and no care as to where it led just as long as they kept a quick change of scenery.

Sora and Tails nodded in silent agreement and the three continued on to nowhere in particular.

"Have any regaling adventure stories to thrill us with?" Sora finally broke the silence looking over at Tails.

"I told you virtually all of them the first two weeks of the semester."

"Any more?"

"Probably. But I'm so bored, I can't think straight." Tails shook his head. "Is it true that the vacation's toast?"

"Yeah." Craig mumbled. "Stanson-Ka doesn't want anyone getting in or out right now, if Karastil's still out there."

"Any of you heard the latest from Cume? Alternate's been disbanded." Sora tried to jump in on things.

"Lies" Both boys said in monotone unison.

"It's a cover-up. 'Disband' and you'll never be mentioned again." Craig kept his eyes ahead of him.

"Too obvious." A small yawn exited Tails' mouth.

"CORNED BEEF!!!" Sora yelled suddenly breaking the long drone of actually useful talk, and nearly scaring the boys out of their fur.

"What the heck was that?" Tails backed up a bit.

"I can't take it anymore! We need excitement in our lives. You guys forget there's a theater right bellow us?" Sora started.

"Crowded."

"Old movies."

"Another hike than?" The vixen tried desperately.

"Bugs."

"We've been down every trail."

"HOMEWORK!" Sora slammed an open paw into a wall. "I don't care what it is, just as long as it's something! Lately you guys have been brainless slabs of meat. What's up?"

"Maybe it's the fact that for some weird reason, YOUR Ka Master thinks that we're the best and won't shut the hell up about it. Our social life was pretty bad before, do you know what it's like with everyone hating your guts?" Tails finally burst.

"It's not my stupid fault!"

"Look guys, if you're gonna start this again, maybe we should just go back to the Commons and watch some T......" Craig tried to get between them.

"What isn't your stupid fault?! You could of reported Karastil and Roddis to the Ta'Ka when you had the chance, but noooo, you wanted to keep them there solely to torture them. That's really kind Sora, ya know that?" Tails nearly stepped on Craig's head, completely ignoring him.

The rabbit sighed and dashed off to a corner to avoid any flying debris from what was about to become a nuclear, 'It's your fault, no it's yours' argument.

"Oh, okay than. I guess the person who wanted to check up on those idiotic files anyway wasn't at fault. You're way too predictable."

"At least I don't have a D minus average." Tails stuck his tongue out.

"Hey, whose the one that can't even get a little bauble started?"

"One thing. ONE THING."

"That's pretty much your main mode of transportation as a Ka Master."

"See these tails? They ain't just for show Lateri."

"Congratulations, you've made being a freak useful. If your so perfect why are you here anyway?"

"What are you doing here? If you hate Karastil so much why are you following in his footsteps?"

"I asked first." Sora folded her arms.

"Fine." Tails did the same. "I need a little advantage that's all. Something to set me apart."

"You're a two-tailed mechanical genius that can fly."

"Well...something ELSE to set me apart. You next."

"All right." Sora nodded. "I'm just here to show him up. That's all....and maybe snag a spot on the Ta'Ka just to get back at everyone who hates me."

"Liar."

"What about you? Something ELSE to set you apart?! Get real."

Craig managed to relax a bit. No blood was always a good sign. Besides it was more entertaining than just walking random places.

---

If there was ever a moment that Brent actually felt like diving facefirst into a pool of cement, this was one of them. Virtually everyone save Salah were together in a corner listening very intently to Tyson.

"That's when Crayshen started talking about conquering the world with killer bees." Tyson started to crack up.

"Alright, are we done going over my most embarrassing moments yet?"

"I haven't even touched the part about the sandwich baggie."

"And you never will. Got it?"

"What, you're actually threatening me?" Tyson pushed down on Brent's head.

"If one word of that gets out I'll...."

"You'll what?"

"Uh.....actually I probably won't do anything." Brent thought for a moment. "Besides bury my head in the sand."

"What's so embarrassing about a sandwich baggie?" Kura raised an eyebrow.

"That's the fun part. Seems like our little kitty friend here had just a tad too much ginseng the day before and..." Tyson started.

"That's enough." Brent elbowed him in the gut and slumped against one of the stone walls.

"I'm going to kill all of you." Salah walked up to them. "All of you. In very creative ways. I can't do this whole thing by myself."

"Slak's helping isn't he?" Sharpear put his hands behind his head.

"No. He's actually making things worse. We gotta get this thing fixed up before next week and all I can get for help is..." Salah was interrupted by a loud explosion. "....THAT."

"Whine, whine, whine." Kura stuck her tongue out. "You need to relax a bit. You're always working too hard. Let some things fall off the shelf for once."

"What are you guys doing anyway?"

"Absolutely nothing." Tyson raised a paw in mock victory.

"And loving it." Brent added.

"Well except for the fact Sharpear keeps trying to look 'tough'." Tyson looked over at the dog, who had his arms folded in the classic pose.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The whole folded arm thing. It makes you look like a wimp."

"Look who's talking you waterlogged moron. You're leaning against the wall."

"So what? Can't I lean against a wall if I want to?"

"Not if you're going to yell at me at having my arms folded at the same time. The 80's are over pal."

"I could say the same about the early 90's." Tyson delivered flatly.

"Oh, whoop-de-doo. That was a comment that's really gonna scathe me in the morning." Sharpear twittled a paw around in sarcastic surprise.

"Betcha Sharpear'll take an early lead, Tyson'll make a comeback and before you know it, they'll have broke each others arms." Brent nodded.

"Or snapped each other's necks." Kura stroked her chin in thought.

"Ooo. There's a good one." Brent conceded.

Meanwhile Salah looked on in complete and utter desperation, the only person still caring about the actual work.

"Is this, you know, what you guys tend to do when I'm not around?"

"Pretty much." Kura answered.

"I'm really starting to envy stupidity." Salah nodded slowly as another loud explosion was heard behind her.  
"Pitfall." She sighed again reaching for her clipboard.

"That makes how many now?" Brent asked with false interest.

"I lost count at 87." Salah also slumped against the wall admitting defeat.

"Don't feel too bad. Work can't compete with um....non-work."

"Your vocabulary is astounding."

"Huh?" Brent backed up a bit.

Salah merely stared out into the scene playing out. Insane rat blowing everything up behind her, an otter and a dog arguing about which "cool guy" pose is more cliche, and out of her two best friends, one was engrossed in the cieling pattern while the other couldn't tell the difference between a telescope and a cucumber.

__

The leaders of tomorrow. Her brain piped up in their defense.

Oh yeah, the future seemed a lot brighter now.

---

"Division 5, Team 5." An attendant looked down at the assignment sheet. "Sora Lateri, Cume Avala, Gregory Tenem..."

Sora groaned. "I really need to get my grades up."

"I'd trade with you in a nano." Tails put his face into his paw again. "I'm really not looking forward to this."

"Division 1, Team 2." The attendant started up again. "Trask Amarik, Miles Prower, and Dane...uh....there's a smudge on the last name."

"Forget it. I know who I am." The ferret swatted his way through the crowd.

"You don't think the universe is trying to keep us from finding his last name out do you?" Craig looked over at Zen, completely unaware that the author just couldn't find anything to go with the name "Dane".

"I wouldn't really worry about it." Zen shrugged. "It's the exercise I'm scared of. It's like some lame first person RPG."

"Well than Gil shouldn't do too bad at it. I've seen him spend hours on Wizardry."

"Thankfully he's far away from us. Whose our third member by the way?" Zen stared ahead at the line filing into the Run.

"I don't know, but have a lurking feeling a unexpected plot twist is going to sneak up on us." Craig's eyes darted about.

"Division 3, Team 4...."

"Suck your gut in, and hope for a miracle." Zen nodded.

"Suck my guy in...? I'm not even gonna start on that one."

"Zen Lateri, Nicholas Hatull, Craig Ias." The attendant finished.

The fox and rabbit began to push their way up to the front. "Nicholas Hatull? Never heard of the kid." Zen shoved his way through a line of kids.

"Well, whoever he is, he can't be...oh crap." Craig's jaw virtually dropped.

"What?"

"The name Hatull...."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Are we going in or what?" A miniature version of Sharpear came to the front.

"You have got to be kidding me." Zen blinked.

"This is a test. Samuel-Ka's got it in for me...this proves it." Craig whispered.

"Okay..." Zen stopped both of them and looked at the newcomer. "Look, we can put two and two together. God knows you aren't Sharpear's son."

"No." Nicholas stumbled back a bit a little confused. "I'm his third cousin, hardly related to him, and never even saw the guy in person for more than about 30 minutes at a family reunion."

"Oh." Craig felt like eating one of his ears off.

This was the part of life he couldn't stand, when the universe had in it for you. Sora laughed at it, Tails ignored it, and he couldn't possibly hate it more.

Craig had spent most of his life running away from insanity, why did it always need to chase him down and bop him on the head? Why be involved in a stupid genetic engineering conspiracy?

Why hang out with Sora?

Really, why hang out with Sora?

Of course his mind already had an answer in it's defense.

__

She's cute.

Well true, but c'mon she practically gave him brain damage 30 times a day....

Maybe Craig wasn't as normal as he thought he was, and that scared him.

"Uh..." Nicholas waved a paw in front of his face.

__

That does it. Craig shook his head. _I've been hanging around Tails way too long. Seriously, how long can someone just stand there with a blank look on their face?_ He continued trying to ignore the irony.

"Craig? Are you still alive?" Zen thwacked him in the back of the head.

"Huh? Right. Just...let's go." His brain formed out a sentence at last.

---

"I've actually heard that there's this one button you can step on, and you'll explode." Cume flapped his wings.

Sora smacked her forehead. They had lost Tenem 30 seconds into the whole thing when he stepped right off into a pitfall. She considered jumping down one herself, after all there had to be a mat or water or something at the bottom right?

"This sucks." She finally sighed. "I have no clue where we are, it's like some lame first-person RPG."

"Yeah, but I knew this kid that spent 48 hours straight on Wizardry." Cume's wings flapped slowly.

"Actually that's true. I've seen Gil do that...nevermind." Sora looked at the piece of the map the attendant had handed them. "Section B-13-2, where the hell is that?"

"I think that's right after the first 23 pitfalls." Cume carefully skidded around a hole. "I hear that at the bottom of them..."

"Cume?"

"What?"

"None of that is true. None of it has ever been true, none of it will ever be true. Shut your beak and help out." Sora stated flatly and went back to the small sheet of paper.

"Uh...right." The duck seemed to deflate a bit as he wings stopped flapping.

Man, cute or not, she was just plain evil at times.

"Okay, the first landmark we're looking for is a uncut boulder." Cume went over to help her. "There's one in every section, but they're all a different shape. The one we want is a rough sphere."

Sora raised an eyebrow. When he wasn't so focused on being an idiot, Cume could actually...think.

"....But I wouldn't dare go near that section anyway, that exploding buttons near it." Cume ruined whatever respect he had gained.

Sora thwacked him in the stomach with her training staff, knocking him off balance into the pitfall behind them.

__

Great move Lateri. She dropped to her knees, and put her head in her paws again.

---

"Section A-16-3." Tails read off in a deadpan voice. "Head right."

"Left it is." Dane sneered turning the corner and nearly bowling over into one of the endless numbers of pitfalls. Catching his footpaw before he took another step, he turned back.

Trask just gave him a death look.

"Follow Prower." The elk said also in a deadpan voice.

"This is stupid. There's no way you can possibly keep guessing the directions." The ferret tried to counter.

"I'm not guessing, just using common sense. Whoever made the pitfalls didn't do it at random." The kitsune kept walking without even giving either of his companions a passing glance. "They're in a pattern."

"There's an odd number on the right, when we need to turn left, when we need to go right, it's even." Trask shrugged. "The only difference is, is that the number keeps increasing by about 3 each time. Pay attention to your surroundings Dane, maybe you'll figure something out."

"I know enough to say that you guys can't count. There's about 15 on the right, so we should be heading left."

"I noticed that too." Tails still didn't turn around. "Looks like they just switched it on us. If you need any proof of that check out what's in front of us." A single paw pointed towards a boulder. If you squinted a bit it looked like someone had tried to make it into a cube, but had in all terms succeeded in making it look like an isosceles triangle. Whoever did it was not a master of rock topiary.

"What's that supposed to be? Some sort of..." Dane began.

"Make one more 'sneering rival' comment and I'll gouge you with my own horns." Trask knocked him flat with a hoof.

Tails smiled a bit. He still hated Trask plain and simple, but it was nice to know he was only dealing with one idiot instead of two.

Only problem was, they had more than a few days down here left.

---

Sora trudged on, completely by herself, virtually skipping over Slak's "improvements."

Things had picked up. With no Cume bothering her every 30 seconds, and no one to choke, she had to swallow her own anger at this exercise, pick herself up, and get some actual work done.

The weird thing was, she hadn't seen anybody else. At least 3 different Ka Groups were going through this thing. That was 36 kids....well as far she knew, there was 34 now. But still...how long can one maze exercise be?

Her footpaw caught something and she looked down.

Alright, an actual trap....now how did the attendant explain these things?

A whistling sound came directly from the ceiling. Moving on pure habit, Sora sliced her training staff over her head, breaking a small weight target coming at her.

Heh...she was getting pretty decent at all this Ka Master crap.

She congratulated herself as the second target came down on her head and knocked her out cold.

---

Brent was free.

No training, no observing, no creepy mentoring, nothing, NOTHING...for at least 3 days.

For the first time since he arrived he actually was spending more than 3 minutes in the rec room.

And in complete and utter irony, was watching Tyson wrap up his 3rd hour on Ultima 4.

"Where the hell's the freakin' Compassion shrine?!" The otter slammed the keyboard.

"You'll never find it like that." Salah smirked not looking up from the chess board.

"Oh hah. That's a riot."

"It's straight east, just go through the stupid swamp." Sharpear shook his head. "You can't even find the easiest shrine? How many RPGs have you played anyway?"

"Check." Salah delivered smugly.

"And you can't beat the Snobgirl at chess? C'mon even Brent's better then her!" Tyson laughed.

"And I'm still horrible." Brent shrugged.

"No, I've got her." Sharpear made a quick move with his rook. "You really do suck Eterna."

"Okay so I'm bad at chess." Salah waved it off. "You still can't tell me what tech you'd use to take on a 3 way split of enemies."

"Depends, equals or sellouts?" Sharpear asked.

"Sellouts." Salah made the challenge. A "sellout" was a enemy with a firearm. Not an easy thing to take on when all you have is a metal pole.

"Can't be done."

"Sure it can, you just have to keep the staff moving."

"And what, block the bullets like in a bad comic?"

"No, as in keep the staff moving and their heads very close." The wildcat folded her arms. "Given the right momentum in Drive, you'd decapitate them. Not much use for guns then huh?"

"But doesn't that depend on you being close to them? Plus the time you need to reach that momentum..."

"Can all be accomplished if you have a partner going in with you." Brent finished.

"The most important strategy...." Salah laughed. " Is not to face three guys with guns by yourself. Not bad Crayshen."

"Hey, you try occupying your mind for three years when all you have is a study book and a barebones paycheck."

Salah looked around her.

"Kura....hey KURA!"

"Have you ever noticed that if you squint just right, that Brent resembles a stick figure of a snowman?" Kura tilted her head.

"I'm glad you like looking at me that long." Brent winked.

"That's because you're standing right in front of Tyson."

"Oh..." The cat sweatdropped. "C'mon what's river-boy got that I don't?"

"For one thing, he didn't jump out on us for three years..." Salah counted on a paw. "He thinks of other people, he's the number one rank in the sparring matches, he doesn't wear weird hats, I have yet to hear him yell in anger at Sora during training, which is something let me tell you that....he knows his way along the lab downstairs, the students in his class actually learn something...." She moved to her other paw. "He doesn't scare the kids by telling them his childhood stories, he's actually funny, and unlike you works out."

"Yeah but...." Brent started. "Well....uh.....why don't you just go out with him then?!"

"Wow, that was mature." Salah shook her head. "Ooo, there's another one...."

Brent sighed. Nothing crushes your spirits like having a list of your greatest faults announced by the Snobgirl.

Well...except maybe her cooking.

---

"Any clue where we are?" Craig looked over the map once more.

"Not one." Nicholas took a rest beside one of the anonymous stone pillars decorating the place.

"Let's just call it a night. I've barely seen anybody in here, we might be ahead." Zen rolled out his sleeping bag.

"At the very least, let's just get a few hours sleep. We need to make good time on this." The dog nodded.

"Right. So....who else thinks this exercise sucks?" Craig offered.

---

They were the top of the Academy's classes.

The best, the brightest, the ones with unbelievable grades....

And they hadn't said a word to each other in 3 hours.

Tails looked behind him, he kept having a feeling that Trask would ambush him or something.

Wait a second....

"Where's Trask?" The fox turned around to face Dane.

"Huh?"

"Trask. Did you see him go off or something?"

"No, I thought...." Dane stopped.

This wasn't right. Trask couldn't have fallen down a pitfall, he wasn't nearly that stupid.

"There's more than just pitfalls for traps right?" Tails turned around and walked over their last few steps.

"Yeah but they're all reflex tests."

"Then is there another twist to this? If we don't cross the finish line in full, it'll hurt our chances of getting a decent score."

"No just the lame traps."

"Something's going on. We shouldn't take a step out of place." Tails slowly stopped walking and froze.

"Relax." A familiar voice came out of nowhere, as usual.

"Holy crap...." Dane looked at the newcomer.

"Captain Eterna?!" Tails looked at the calico cat. "Mind if I ask what's going on?"

"Consider the exercise cancelled. You two are going to join your friend on a little field trip."

Tails could see where this was going.

The captain had just drafted them into Advance Wing.

---

Still no Retrospective, this is the first full chapter I've written in a while, and I don't wanna screw it up.

Read Twain.


	17. A Disturbing Mind

Sora gradually woke up, feeling like she had just been walloped in the head with a very heavy bag of sand, which, as she looked around her, made a lot of sense.

Getting up, she scraped some of the sand around with her footpaw and checked her watch.

11:10.

Hey, this was a pretty decent chance to keep on going, she'd be light years ahead of the others.

If it was for the fact she wasn't so freakin' tired.

Ah what the hell, that which does not kill you and all that crap. She thought as she stumbled on to nowhere in particular.

---

"Mkerrgery." Craig finally woke up and wiped some drool off his mouth. Ugh, laying a sleeping bag on an uneven rock floor does not provide a comfortable experience. Even his fur hurt.

"Bleh." Zen tottered as he rose. "We've got what? Half a week left down here, if we're lucky?"

"It's about six. Think we should get going?" Nicholas already had everything packed away and was leaning next to a pillar.

"How...?" Craig stared at their new companion.

"I'm desperate for a decent grade." Nicholas shrugged. "We really need to get going though. A few groups've passed up already."

"Fine." Zen rubbed his eyebrows with a paw. "Let's just keep going. Next landmark?"

"Stone cube." Craig looked at the map again. "Numbered 7."

"I'm really starting to hate mazes." Zen shook his head. "Alright, let's go."

---

There was no telling where they were.

From what anyone could possibly make out, it was a nameless empty battlefield, miles away from civilization.

Convenient.

Captain Eterna had shoved Tails, Dane, and Trask into a tent a piece as soon as the bauble emerged. Not exactly spacious quarters, but it beat a cold underground maze.

Well except for the fact Tails had woken up, completely drenched in his own sweat. Tents have a way of frying the person sleeping in them, giving them a good night's sleep and an extremely uncomfortable morning.

Yawning, the fox opened the tent flap. No, still there in the middle of nowhere, lost among hundreds of other tents.

At least he didn't have to worry about his grade anymore.

"I suppose you'd like to know what's going on." Axen suddenly came out of nowhere. He tended to have a knack for it, coming out of the shadows was a great way to intimidate and control.

Tails looked genuinely unsurprised and halfway bored.

"Not really. You're preparing a counterattack and dragged us here to get some "first-hand experience", then try to drag us on to your side in this stupid argument over a completely failed project."

An independent thinker 'eh? Axen liked them, he always appreciated a good argument.

Especially since he always won.

Regardless of how it went.

"So you think Ka Masters should be allowed to just run off and kill others?"

"Of course not."

"So," Axen smiled, his fangs baring just a bit, "Than you obviously think like me. Peace, right?"

"I'm all for things calming down." Tails sent a virtual deathlook towards the Captain. "But I don't think like you. All you're in it for is revenge."

Damn! The kid wasn't biting for the peaceful world bit. Must've done his homework.

"Don't you think my family has suffered enough through all of this?" Axen shot back.

There. Let the kid weasel his way out of that.

"Yeah, and I can sympathize, but look at your own daughter. She was the one who worked to get everything under control, in the end, you just want a fight because it's basically the only thing your good at."

"Well Mr. Prower, you've hit the nail on the head." Axen smiled again. "But don't tell me that just because it sounds right, I should do it."

Any of this sounding familiar? Tails mind perked up at exactly the wrong time.

"Salah's a good girl sure, but she doesn't complain as long as she get what she wants in the end." Axen pointed out.

At this point Tails felt like the rest of the world was a billion miles away.

Face it, you had this coming to you. His mind continued to fight against him. _You're not going to win this, because you don't know how to answer._

"COMMON SENSE!" Tails blurted out solely to prove his thoughts wrong.

"Perception of common sense differs." Axen shrugged.

And with that the argument was over, there was nothing left to say, no biting comments, no philosophic quotes......

With a scream of pure rage Tails decked the Captain in the head with his training staff as hard as the laws of physics would let him.

He didn't budge an inch. At the least he was nicked in one of his stupid pointy ears.

"I thought you were the stoic one." Axen frowned. "Get what I mean now?"

He was expecting that you idiot! Tails thoughts were screaming at him.

"But since you think I'm so heavily into 'an eye for an eye'...." The Captain growled a bit.

Tails immediately sprung to the left nearly spinning as the staff slammed into the air where he had been standing.

Ready? A different sort of mindset took over in his head.

Axen stopped the movements and respun the staff.

The plan had already formed in Tails mind.

The calico cat shifted his body weight directly onto his left leg and.....

Tails immediately dived down as Axen's staff had just enough momentum to move an inch, and struck the bottom of it, with his own.

The sheer force Axen had put behind the blow couldn't be stopped. The staff nearly destroyed itself on Axen's jaw, sending the officer flying back a record of at least 10 feet.

"Not...a...chance." The cat managed to mumble on the ground. "You're not half as strong as you should be." Axen stumbled, getting up, still caressing his jaw. "You really can't stand to lose an argument can you?"

"Obviously, neither can you." Tails smirked.

"I live for it." Axen smiled. "How about breakfast?"

---

"For the three-hundredth time, you're wrong!" Brent virtually shoved Tyson out of the chair. "The answer is Spirituality, and the stupid color is white."

"I thought it was red."

"Why would Spirituality be red? It's pure, it'd have to be white."

"What are you, some kind of uber-nerd?" Tyson raised an eyebrow.

"It's not so bad." Brent shrugged. "I could be writing fanfiction."

"Does anyone else here feel like that was an extremely lame in-joke?" Slak chewed on one of his claws.

"It's worse then you think. Ask him about his Benny Goodman records." Salah grumbled from the couch.

"Those were good times, Snobgirl."

"You weren't even born then, brainiac. And yeah, total poverty is a blast ain't it?"

"Why do you always have to argue with everything I say?"

"Because...you're wrong."

"According to you." Brent mumbled. "Okay then, what makes you right all the time. You're the one bossing us around like you're in the Ta'Ka."

"Maybe it's because none of you have an actual work-ethic. If I didn't keep you guys in line, Slak would've blown off the roof, Sharpear and Tyson would be tearing apart the place in fistfights, Kura would disappear forever, and you.....well....actually you'd just be lying around. Pretty much like you always do. Whatever, you guys need to be kept in control."

"Really?" Brent rose up.

"Uh, Crayshen? I'm pretty sure she was just joking." Sharpear looked over from the empty table in the middle of the room.

"You're an absolute nightmare to work with do you know that? You have absolutely no sense of fun, because you're so focused on being the boss around here. Here's a shocker, you're not." Brent ignored him.

"Brent, I don't think...." Slak's eyes focused onto the oncoming hurricane that would be this argument.

"I was just joking Fatmouth. Let it go." Salah lifted her head to deliver this short speech and then dropped it.

There was a quiet collective sigh from the others....

"No. " Brent said flatly. "I wasn't joking, okay?"

....Which heightened straight back into tension.

"You're a self-serving brat, that thinks the world can't run without you being everywhere at one time." Brent's head tilted a bit. "I'm sick of you treating us like we're some lower class peons or something."

"Peon? You've been reading a thesaurus. Good for you." Salah gave a mock-thumbs up

"Damnit, would you just listen for once?! I'm starting to get really sick of you ordering us around all the time..."

"I'm sitting on a couch." Salah pointed out.

Brent went on completely oblivious. "....And you know what? You still treat us like we're scum. You haven't changed at all. Once a Snobgirl always a Snobgirl."

"So why do you hang out with me then?" Salah brought her head back up and smiled.

Brent opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it, and opened it again.

"I have no idea, you win." He finally threw up his arms. That was just pathetic. What the hell was he thinking? Salah wasn't doing anything wrong, and he had kept it up.

C'mon, you're not gonna let her win are you? Who cares what she's doing now, just tell her that's she's a stuck up bi-

Whoa hold it. Stuck up maybe, but she's still my best friend.

For God's sake, why?

I'm pretty sure that if I ever figured that out, the universe would fold up like a paper hat.

To me, it sounds like a relationship built on pure healthy lust.

WHAT?!

Hm, you're right ya know. It would explain a lot.

You're crazy, both of you are crazy.

Both of us are you.

I'm having an argument with myself. I already know I'm crazy.

Don't try to weasel your way out of the subject, I know what you're thinking.

You're my mind, you better know what I'm thinking.

Face it, you've been pining after the girl since you were what, 3?

I've only known her since I was 9.

It's close enough.

And pining isn't the right word. I liked her when I was 10, remember? Until she tried to feed me my own tail.

Maybe you shouldn't have jumped out at her that day.

Maybe this, maybe that...whatever.

And what about when you were 12 and you gave her that pendant for her birthday? Slightly touching.

Until she flushed it down the toilet.

Yeah but look what that did. An exploding toilet is always a more interesting gift then a fake gold piece.

Yeah well I....

"Brent...." Tyson snapped him out of the elaborate conversation.

"Oh..." Brent looked around him. "Let me guess staring blankly into space right?"

Everyone looked at each other. No longer able to keep it in, Salah fell off the couch laughing as hard as she could.

"Not quite." Tyson smiled sheepishly. "We heard every word."

Some people when presented with this fact, in this situation would faint, others would babble incoherently, and even more would throw up, anything to get out of this conversation as soon as possible.

Brent was too smart to adhere to any of those pathetic cliches.

He babbled incoherently, threw up, and then collapsed, all in an impressive 40 seconds. There was some applause from Slak as he hit the ground.

---

"I guess I'm out now to fulfill a dream..." Sora sang under her breath to a tune that for no particular reason had popped into her head. She immediately shut up however, as a human and a mole passed by her.

"Any clue where we are?" She called out.

"No, and I don't really care at this point." The human turned his head around. "We've been going through this thing for a couple days, and I'm already sick of it." A sandbag came out of nowhere and flattened him unconscious.

"Thank God that's over with." The mole moved a footpaw off an obviously placed trap button. "He doesn't do anything but whine. Look you better head for the right, I think there's a dead end coming up."

"Thanks, but I've got a bit of a plan...I think." Sora marched on. "....Reaching the clouds way above me..." She started to mumble to herself again. Ah forget it, she could never sing anyway.

"Cone, cone where's a cone?" She mumbled to herself once more. The sound of her own voice was always comforting.

Why am I talking like my aunt? Her mind picked up.

Why have a train of 2 oblivious thoughts in a row?

Why have a thought about having a thought?

"Shut up!" She yelled a bit and then clamped a paw over her mouth. Dear sweet Lord, she was starting to act like Brent. Maybe should could reason with this thing in her mind before it got that bad.

Uh, hello? She ventured.

What the hell was she doing?

Shaking her head, she continued on for the cone.

What's up? The more sarcastic part of her brain couldn't resist.

Ah, that was cheating.

---

"Breakfast" was giving it too much leeway.

The term "inedible pile of unidentifiable seething slime" would be giving it too much leeway.

As far as Tails could tell, this was some form of.....uh.....well he was pretty sure at one time it had a bowl of okra grits, but these looked like they'd been exposed to some form of mutating radioactive waste, and then shelved for exactly 24 years.

"What--?" He started to ask the Captain.

"Don't ask what it is, just eat it. Trust me, the less you know about food the better." Axen closed his eyes and grabbed a bowl of....stuff.

Tails reluctantly did the same and opened them only when he was sure they were no where near the serving counter. He didn't look down at the bowl either.

"Listen kid, that knock on the jaw...." Axen sat down at a random spot in the grass propping his head against a tent.

"Yeah well um..." Tails sat next to him. "That was more or less an accident. I wanted to prove to myself I could win at...."

"Not why you did it, how you did it." Axen held his breath and took a bite of the bowl's contents. "You hit me square underneath the jaw. If it had gotten me in the face, there's a good chance I'd be back at the Academy at the MedCenter right now. Mind you, a little more power and you might of broken it..." Axen rubbed the bottom of his chin. "Not to mention the pure damage you've done to my staff."

"I'm not saying I'm sorry. You went after me." Tails took a bite of the former food. There was no real way to describe the taste, at the very best, one could say it tasted like all of your childhood fears rolled into one, with a little sugar added for no particular reason.

"You've got a different type of fighting style." The Captain put down his spoon. "To tell you the truth, I coaxed you into fighting. Your two friends there got the same treatment. Not exactly pushovers. I guess I got what I deserved for nabbing the Academy's best. But they were very traditional, stuck to the techs, and the ferret even tried to pull a battle pattern off on me. Neither of them would've seen the staff under my head like that."

"Okay, so I'm observant." Tails took another bite of the food, trying his best to pretend they were still grits. "You can't exactly call that a fighting technique."

"I call that, the result of good training."

"Brent?! You've gotta be kidding, in the last month, he's got his head handed to him at least 20 twenty times in the sparring ring."

"Ever consider that he doesn't exactly know what he's teaching?"

"Every single day of my life." Tails laughed.

"That's not what I meant. I think I've got set in my head, that he's doing stuff different with you on purpose. Not because he's lazy."

"Trust me, Brent isn't that cunning. He's lazy."

"You a believer in fate?" Axen took his spoon back up.

"It's a load of crap. No." Tails scraped the sides of his bowl.

"Ever wondered why the universe is stacked against you?"

Who is this guy, some evil psychic? Tails eyebrows raised a bit.

"Nope. Never."

"Maybe you should. You see---

"Never." Tails got up, taking his tray with him.

Axen shook his head. _Best and brightest my footpaw._

His breakfast hissed at him.

"And I don't need any comments from you." He mumbled taking another bite.

---

At this point Sora was dragging herself along by the tail.

"HAHA! LANDMARKS!!!" She half laughed-half choked pretending to be insane.

For some weird reason, it comforted her.

And then she stopped.

And blinked.

And blinked again.

There was a door right in front of her.

She had just finished the Run and cut the record in half.

This was so wrong.

"What is it now? Is a giant piano gonna drop on me when I open the door? Maybe I just worked my way back to the start, huh?" She yelled to the rest of the universe. "I know there are things that are too good to be true, and this is one of them!!! I'm out of here." She turned around.

Of course the door was perfectly fine. Nothing would've stopped her at all.

Turning around a different corner, she bumped directly into Craig.

"Other way." She mumbled.

"Sora, everything points to here, the exit's..."

"I KNOW!!!" She took him by the ears and almost threw him down, as she headed the wrong way

Zen and Nicholas looked at each other flabbergasted and followed to avoid a similar fate.

---

Of course irony couldn't have run full circle without Brent waking up 10 minutes later.

Straining to get up, he looked around the room.

Everyone was still their going about their important business of doing nothing.

That didn't mean they respected Brent or tried to give him space, hell if an atomic bomb went off next door, they'd keep moping around.

"Hm." Sharpear turned his head around acknowledging the cat's existence. "So loverboy have a ni-GYAA!" Brent slashed his face before he could continue.

"One more word and I'll personally make sure you die in that chair. Got it?"

"Threatening dialogue. It becomes such a dashing kni---JAA! OKAY I GET THE POINT!" Sharpear held his face in pure pain.

"I have an announcement to make." Brent looked around. "I am completely 100 insane and my mind's opinions are not my own. Thank you." He went over to the computer which was now running an ancient game of Wings. (_It's an Amiga, okay?!- Brent_)

"I actually found the whole thing entertaining." Salah still had to stifle a laugh.

"Insane." Brent mumbled. "Tyson, you just can't strafe." The cat tried to ignore her as Tyson's simulated biplane was turned into Swiss cheese.

"It's the joystick." Tyson slammed the keyboard. "You try dodging bullets with it."

"That computer's old enough to qualify for Medicare." Kura whacked him upside the head. "Be careful."

"I needed a good laugh anyway." Salah continued, her sole purpose apparently being to annoy Brent.

"Insane." Brent gritted his teeth. "I was just as frightened by that conversation as you were okay?"

"I found it kinda flattering actually." The wildcat smirked.

"INSANE!" Brent covered his ears, his face now a magnificent reddish burgundy.

Salah winked at him.

Finally all his anger came out in the worst possible insult he could possibly think of. Turning around, eyes burning like a demon's, Brent opened his mouth....

And hissed.

3 seconds later, realizing what he just did he clamped a paw over his mouth and shrunk into a corner.

"WHAT?!" Salah sprang up, just about ready to kill.

"Uh..." Slak turned his head around from watching Tyson's pathetic gaming abilities. "What was that?"

"To a cat? Something you never wanna say." Sharpear shook his head as Brent was being hammered straight into the ground.

"So I could hiss at somebody and be insulting them?" Slak thought for a second. "Cool."

By now, Brent was flailing his paws scratching Salah's face as much as possible.

Kura looked over at them.

"They're about to kill each other."

"How is that different from any other day?" Tyson sighed as the biplane went down in flames.

At this point, the two were already boxing each other, getting as many shots to the head as they could fit in, trying to see which one would give in first.

And around them, the universe went on.

RETROSPECTIVE

"My plane in shambles, I began the long walk home to face the music."

Eh, it's been a while.

With school taking up a good chunk of my time, I haven't really had much room to work on this, although I really should be working on homework right now anyway....whatever.

The plot took a back seat (again) to some slight but entertaining character development. In case you haven't noticed, I think Crayshen kinda likes Salah, but I've been trying to avoid this pairing like the plague. No matter how much I distance myself from him, Brent is still Brent, and that makes him me. I didn't want to seem like some desperate nerd playing Don Juan so I kept a little quiet about the whole thing. But, this story fell into the hands of the characters a long time ago. They wrote that scene not me. I'm just an observer of what they do.

The song Sora was singing was her "theme". A friend and I tried to set those lyrics a long time ago to an anonymous midi file, and failed miserably. In all honesty it was just an in-joke.

And in case anyone doesn't know, Wings, is an incredible WWI flying sim from Cinemaware for the old, still fun Amiga computer.

Naturally, I suck at it.


	18. Problems With Philisophy

"A cloud was on the mind of men, and wailing went the weather. Yea a sick cloud upon the soul, when we were boys together." Tails delivered a bit solemnly as Guard and Advance Wings went about their business while Dane, Trask and himself watched.

"That was overkill, but I think I see your point." Dane nodded. "This place is just too weird."

"Are you kidding?!" Trask looked over at them. "In a couple hours we're actually going to be fighting. Actually _fighting_. This is one of the best moments of my life."

"You've never actually fought before have you?" Tails smirked.

"No, and neither have you, so you can't just claim "War is hell" and hide behind quotes all your life."

Tails shook his head and moved his attention back to the Wings which were now going into strict formation.

"This is a tale of those old fears, even of those emptied hells...."

The two remaining animals left him there as Tails' mouth blatantly ignored them.

As far as they were concerned, he could quote to the cliff.

"And none but you shall understand, the true thing that it tells." Tails finished quietly.

He was glad he wasn't the sidekick right now. He had come to a new awakening here that life was vastly more complicated then saving anonymous islands day-in and day-out.

So why did he miss it all so much?

A bauble appeared behind him snapping him out of any fuzzy nostalgia he was feeling.

"Oh, hi Salah-Ka....what happened to your fa--"

"First of all, I don't want to talk about it. Second of all, why aren't you in the Run?!" Salah snapped at him.

"They dragged our entire group out here." Tails shrugged. "It's all pointless if you ask me. A counterattack? How do they even know where Karastil is?"

"Counterattack?! I'll show that moldy scratching post counterattack!" Salah stormed off forwards into the camp.

Tails blinked.

Why is it that wherever he went insanity followed him like an eager puppy?

Another bauble formed behind him.

"Samuel-Ka? Any clue what the hell's going on?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to stop Salah before she rips the Captain apart like a sheet of notebook paper." Sharpear marched off.

Oh dear God, not another one....was everybody coming here today?

"Why aren't you in the Run?" Brent asked stepping out of the sphere that had formed the most recently.

"Deranged military captain." Tails sighed.

"Good enough for me..." Brent started to walk towards the camp.

"What's with the scratch marks?" Tails called after him.

"It was self-defense!" Brent roared back and walked off.

That's it.

Tails followed, heading towards the camp. A gathering of lunatics before a giant battle....no one in their right mind would want to be around that. But, Tails reasoned. He had lost his mind a long time ago.

---

"An administrator came up in the middle of...a competition..." Salah cleared her throat. "And told me you were planning a COUNTERATTACK?!" She had cornered her father who had shrunk to the visage of exactly three inches. "You have got to be the most idiotic military leader since Custer!"

"We have to make a retaliation sometime." Axen tried to defend himself.

"No, you don't. You have to guard. Not go attacking whenever you get a wild whisker."

"We had information Karastil was planning another assault on...."

"THAN STOP ATTACKING, AND GO DEFEND THAT PLACE!!" Salah lunged for his throat, just as Brent and Sharpear came into the tent and jerked her back by the shoulders before she could do anything.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING?!" Her voice began to echo across the entire valley. "You've got a nice little encampment in plain view. You don't know where Karastil is, but damnit, he's got you pegged." Her eyes burned.

A tiny smile allowed itself to pass across Axen's face.

"Karastil isn't stupid enough to...."

"NO!" Brent and Sharpear jumped forward to try and stop him.

"....make an attack on an army this size." Axen finished before the cat and dog clobbered him to the ground with a magnificently resounding thud.

Several seconds of silence passed.

"You're kidding me. If we would've said something like that, there'd be a thousand troops down on this place by now. How come life only comes after us?" Brent looked around.

"Of course not, if it came every time we expected it, irony wouldn't be very ironic." Sharpear sweatdropped. "And I have no clue what I just said."

"Gt ff m fce." Axen mumbled from beneath Sharpear's arm.

"Sure as soon as you calm down and stop waging war young man." Sharpear allowed a stupid smile to come across his face.

If they could have seen his face, Axen would've rolled his eyes.

"Um Sharp? Maybe you really should..." Brent's face went into a mixture of confusion and worry.

"Why? The second we do, he's gonna have us arrested."

"He's turning blue."

"He's in Advance Wing, he can hold his breath for 4 minutes."

"No he can't. Now he's turning purplish black."

"Get off." Salah tried to push the canine over.

"Alright, alright." Sharpear mumbled moving over.

"WAKAAAA....." A breath sharp, enough to impale something, came from Axen.

"Okay, I know that was harsh, but get real. You shouldn't be chasing Karastil down." Salah's voice turned sincere.

Axen took several breaths and stood up.

"You are my daughter. You don't tell me what I can and cannot do. I'm Ta'Ka, I'm Captain of both Wings, I'm a former member of the Alternate, and not you, not your muscle dog, and not that clueless watermelon over there are going to stop me from doing anything. Do you understand me?"

"Clueless watermelon." Brent contemplated this. "I've heard worse. Anyway, you really don't want to move in right now."

"And what makes you possibly think I'd take your advice?" Axen shook his head smiling. "You're a low ranking eyesore on your family's record. Do you know how many Crayshens have had my position?"

"How many?" Brent smirked.

"....One." Axen mumbled admitting defeat. "But still, you should feel pride as a Ka Master. You are the results of the ones who have passed."

"You sound exactly like Karastil." If anthropomorphic cats had noticeable eyebrows, Brent's would've been nicely diagonal.

"I'm not trying to force strength on others."

"What? You just......nevermind. Salah, you take over." Brent gave up.

"Let me put it this way. Army in the middle of everything. BAD. Army fighting rebellion for no apparent reason. BAD. Army and rebellion going to kill each other, REALLY BAD." Salah announced each word with "You're idiotic" hand gestures.

"Don't try to pull the 'talk slowly for the moron' joke off on me." Axen took a step forward. "There's going to be an attack. Who'll move first doesn't matter. It could be me, it could be Karastil, but THERE'S GOING TO BE AN ATTACK!!! Why?! You don't need to know. Now go away."

"We're taking those 3 students with us." Salah turned around.

"They're staying."

"We're not gonna let them get killed."

"They won't be."

"They're going to be if this thing carries through."

"They'll be fine. Go back to the Academy. Consider that an order."

"DAMNIT! I'M STAYING!" Salah stomped her footpaw on the ground.

"Salah..." Axen said with an impressive calmness. "Go back."

The wildcat looked at her father, turned around, and walked straight out of the tent. Walking forward into the encampment a little ways, she left the boys behind her and focused on creating a bauble.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're giving up. And you put on such a nice tough girl act at the Academy." A voice came from behind her.

"You're a student Prower. I have seniority over you. On a personal note, you have no right to judge my actions."

"So you're trying to sound official to try and appear like you're still in charge of something." Tails walked up beside her.

"Look, it's life. No matter how much you want to deny it there's a system."

"Clockwork universe, huh? Not everything can run on universal gears." Tails smiled.

"That sounds good on paper..." The bauble in front of Salah started to shrink as she turned around to face him. "But the truth is, some worldly hierarchy is going to be controlling our movements day in and day out. It could be a nation, it could be a military captain who's putting lives in danger. They wanna obey him? Fine with me."

"Alexander Pope had a quote for you kind of people. 'Whatever is, is right.'"

"That's very nice." Salah faced the bauble again. "Look, just stay as far away from the b---whatever is, is right?! What kind of stupid philosophy is that? The universe would lose all moral highground, we'd plunge into anarchy and kill each other!"

"Bingo." Tails walked off as the bauble crumpled into nothingness.

What the hell was that kid getting at?

Oh, that whole "accept it the way it is" thing she had just blabbed her mouth off about.

Well one little fox kit wouldn't change her mind. She wasn't going to turn around and march back in that tent.

She had a mental image of doing just that anyway.

No! She wasn't walking back in there.

While she was contemplating this, Brent and Sharpear walked out.

"We tried, but he isn't going to budge." Sharpear sighed and started to create a bauble

"Just a second....." Salah stopped him."

"What's left to do? You just chickened out?" Brent mumbled angrily.

"I'm not going back in, I don't have the heart to say what I want to say to him. He's my dad. So I'm gonna stay, and I'm gonna fight. If I get myself killed, then it's his fault and...and....I don't know, he can feel real bad about it."

"Wow Salah, that's maliciously evil and cruel." Brent said completely deadpan. "And it suits you."

"I'm serious. I'm staying."

"You really will get yourself killed!"

"Good!"

"No. Nonono. I see what you're trying to do. Play the sympathy card so that me and Sharpear will stay and fight in this thing. But you're wrong. Not gonna work."

"Yes it will."

"I hate you." Brent mumbled. "Run while you still can Sharp."

"Sorry. She's right. It worked." The dog shrugged.

"Great. So we just go along and get ourselves turned into fleshy bags of dead organs."

"Brent, that was the stupidest analogy I've ever heard in my life." Salah looked over at him. "At this point, it'd be suitable not to show off your vocabulary and just say something along the lines of: 'We're gonna die'."

"Why? That'd just be kinda stupid."

"It's better than 'fleshy bags of dead organs'. That's miserable."

"What's wrong with it? It's descriptive, it's what we'll be."

"I don't know, there's something disturbingly gross about it."

"Hm, you're right. Let's try...."

"Unidentifiable pools of blood?" Sharpear offered.

"Good, but what if there's something left afterward?"

"This conversation is creeping me out." Salah started to walk off. "Just get ready for the battle."

---

"Okay, I'm not even going to begin listing all the things wrong with this." Nicholas groaned as Sora led them along into academic oblivion. "We're going backwards."

"Shut up." Sora mumbled as she kept marching straight into nowhere.

"You two know her, say something." The dog motioned to Zen and Craig.

"I'm not even going to mention it." Zen shook his head.

"Good." Sora said with a tinge of anger, keeping totally focused on whatever was in front of her.

"Ah crap." Craig sighed. "Alright, I want a decent grade as much as you guys, wait here and I'll try...something." He marched on ahead, taking Sora aside while the other two boys were behind him.

"Get this, you're not on our team." He tried to start.

"I didn't want to walk in the wrong direction by myself, that would be stupid!" Sora pointed it out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But..."

"Look it finally hit me when I reached that door. My life sucks. Everything I do is going to be a failure, even when I succeed."

"That makes absolutely no sense." Craig blinked.

"Well it's true."

"You don't have to drag us down with you." The rabbit's voice turned a little irritable. "Lately if anything hasn't been going your way, you just have to interfere somehow to wreck people's lives. Come to think of it, that's not lately, that's every single waking second I've known you."

Sora's face almost went into confusion. Craig was actually telling her she was wrong. Wrong! Her! That stupid vegetable muncher actually told her she was wrong?!

It wasn't the fact he thought she was wrong. Sora knew that most of her life had been messed up, but he was actually saying something, which almost impressed her.

Almost.

"Fine. We've been walking a day, a group's been through that door already, let's just turn around and go then." She said smugly folding her arms.

"You're not talking your way out of this one." Craig's eyes narrowed.

"Out of what?"

"You're just plain selfish."

Oh yeah, that was really scathing.

"Look, we can go back to the stupid door, why are---"

"You know what Sora? You're the mirror image of your dad." Craig delivered the final blow and walked off.

"You're gonna die for that!!" She yelled after him.

"Go ahead. What are you gonna do? Hit me over the head with a staff? Here's news. After the 312th time....it doesn't hurt." Craig called back.

"What'd you say to her?" Zen raised an eyebrow.

"Forget it." Craig nearly spat. "Forget her, forget obeying her. I'm going back, if you want to follow, then follow."

"We're not following." Nicholas shook his head.

"Fine stay here and be scared of her."

"We're not." Zen's voice grew angry. "We're staying because we're a little worried. I've never seen her cry since she was 4."

"She's not..." Craig stopped. "Oh God.....I'm not turning around. I said it. I meant to say it, and I've been meaning to say it since I met her."

"So what'd you say?"

"Something incredibly stupid." The rabbit sighed. He still wasn't going to turn around and be grief stricken with some touchy image of her crying. Eh...even the thought of Sora crying seemed impossible. No, he had integrity, he was sticking by what he said no matter how much...he...actually didn't.....mean.....

Crap.

So without further ado, he turned around.

"You squashbrains, she's fine!"

"That's the closest you're ever gonna get to seeing her cry." Zen shook his head.

Sora was standing up, her head leaning forward into the wall, muttering a long string of obscenities that although 90 inaudible, were apparently enough to make Nicholas choke on his own spit. Noticing that Craig had turned around, a menacing frown grew on her face.

"Nexttimehedoesitillmakeasmoothieoutofhiswrist." She said it fast enough so it sounded like she was mumbling, but loud enough so that Craig could hear.

It probably would have helped if he understand of any of it of course, but the small rabbit knew it was an insult by the total amount of real _threat_ in her voice.

Of course Sora had an ability to turn anything into a threat by saying it angrily enough which had given rise to such gems as....

"Sweet? Nice?! I TRY HARD TO BE THIS MEAN YOU GRUNGY MEATLOAF!." (This one was followed by loud crashing noises, and Craig getting his ears tied in a knot. He didn't quite understand why this was bad, he was feeling pretty good and complimented her. Thankfully, Sora snapped him back to real life.)

"WHAT'YA MEAN YOU LIKE LONDON OVER FITZGERALD?! I'LL BUILD YOU A FREAKIN' FIRE!! RIGHT OUT OF YOUR ROTTEN CORPSE!" (Which had stemmed from a very interesting argument about _The Great Gatsby_. Tails' meager book collection would've been destroyed if Sora hadn't suddenly noticed Zen and Gil mimicking her behind her back. Of course the two brothers weren't quite as lucky and nearly had to have their paws sewn back on)

But the most frightening thing you could hear out of her mouth was a simple: "Stop. Talking. Now."

This meant that if you didn't stop talking right then, you wouldn't be conscious for long and when you woke up, you'd be back on the floor again in 30 seconds. If you woke up after that, it would be in the MedCenter.

But despite the apparent promise to 'makeasmoothieoutofhiswrist', the actual threat had fallen flat. She had simply stop caring.

For one of the first times in her life, she felt no anger to accompany her sadness, because of one simple fact. Craig was right.

But damn the day she admitted that.

---

And time passed.

Time passed like time always passes. Without even giving so much as a simple "tick" in your favor.

A nervous feeling grew in Tails' stomach.

He had them before of course, but this one was coupled with a complete sense of approaching dread.

And so he sat down and tried to give voice to his thoughts.

Try something simple. His mind raced. _Crane, maybe._

"Do not weep gentle maiden for War is kind..." He started.

Okay, that wasn't helping....

He sucked in his breath and tried again, just something to get his mind off this thing.

"I met a man pursuing the horizon. 'It is futile I said, you can never...', 'You lie!' He said, and ran on." Tails closed his eyes and let his head hit the ground. That defined the situation a little too well.

He felt so stupid. He'd been in the direct path of menacing robots, nearly got caught up in dozens of explosions, barely piloted his way around literal armadas....

And he was scared of a few people with metal sticks.

There was a major difference in this situation though. Sonic was nowhere to be seen. No stupid heroic phrases, no overbearing cockiness, no overrated "cool guy" antics.

No justice where it needs to be, no laughter, no fun.

No one looking out for you....

The resident Ka Master's were nice enough to stick up for you sure, but it wasn't the same.

They weren't your only family.

"Ah, shake it off!" Tails leapt up and kicked the ground. He swore to himself that he wouldn't get emotional over this, he swore that'd he finish this thing without Sonic's help, that he could actually do something, that...

Someone rammed into him holding a staff.

Quickly recovering, he countered to the head, knocking his attacker to the ground, and broke into a run.

Bandana-less soldiers were running all over the place. Apparently Karastil had made the first move.

Ergh, where's everybody when you need them? He barely had to time to grumble to himself before breaking off into another quick attack against someone else. He continued running as soon as he was sure the enemy was out of the way. There's something about spending at least a good 7 years of your life running, that made you good at it.

He tried working his way towards Axen's tent. It was a long shot, but if everyone was there he could.....

No good, they were nowhere in sight.

Another dissenter ran by him.

Tails closed his eyes waiting for impact....

What the hell? He opened them to see the enemy ignoring him, pressing on to fight Advance Wing.

A smile nearly allowed itself to cross his face.

He wasn't wearing a bandana.

It quickly turned to a frown.

He wasn't wearing a bandana.

That meant....

"Oh...shit." It hit him worse than any Ka Staff.

He had to hide.

Now.

RETROSPECTIVE

And there's no excuse....

This took forever. Not because of writer's block, I don't believe in that, that's just a cheap copout.

This took forever because I have been extremely lazy. I humbly apologize to anyway still reading this. Anyway, the chapter....

The poem Tails recites at the beginning is the dedication from The Man Who Was Thursday, although that's only part of it.

Sora's 2nd threat, was of course over who was the better writer, Fitzgerald or London. That actually comes from something my writing teacher said. Apparently women love Fitzgerald' s work, which is surprising because of the way he presents them. Let's just say it's not in the best light. Mainly though, I love the idea of Sora being well read. (And if you didn't get her "Build a fire out of you" joke, you need to read wayyy more than just fanfiction my friend.)

The other quotes Tails manages to get out before the battle, are (at least I think) both Stephen Crane. I know for a fact that the "War is kind" came from him, but I'm a little 'nyeh' on the "horizon" one.

And as one final note, since I see Tails as 13 to 14 years old, and technically he was 6 1/2 in Sonic 2, yes that would make nearly 7 years of running to the right....Although, it's still hard to believe it's been 12 years since Sonic 2.

Great, now I feel old.

(Completely useless sidenote: This was officially finished on the exact stroke of midnight. Slightly wiggy.)


	19. Anticlimactic! Suprised? Didn't think so

If there's one thing Brent had tried to avoid as a Ka Master, it was fighting.

Sparring matches were one thing, sure they hurt, but they were actually kind of fun, a healthy competition between friends.

But this....

"Movement to your left!" Salah flung her staff out pointing to him.

"You have your own problems to worry about Snobgirl, leave me alone. Ergh!" Brent held off another attacker and flung him back.

"Listen, the stupid...." Salah paused to throw a punch in a soldier's face. "The stupid formation won't hold unless we all work together."

"Touching, there's an allegory for life." Brent sighed. "This isn't...." He stopped short as he was decked in the head, slightly moving to the left, he noticed his enemy was on full assault leaving his rib cage well and unguarded. Quickly taking care of him, Brent moved back to where he was. "Circle movements never work!" He finally got out as the next wave came for him.

"Don't blame me, it was Sharpear's idea!" Salah yelled back quite busy with an opponent of her own.

"He's been awfully quiet. Sam? You holdin' up okay?" Brent allowed his head to turn as soon as he was clear. "SHARP?!"

Salah kicked her assailant into the next decade and turned around herself.

"Damnit, where is he?!"

"He broke his own circle movement." Brent shook his head. "Alright, the best we can do is break it up for now. If we can just...."

An enemy came up behind them. Taking her own on both sides, the cats soon had her rolling on the ground with pain.

"This isn't going to work." Salah's voice grew a little despondent. "We can't just keep holding them off, we've gotta....."

"Go ahead, nothing's stopping you." Brent said angrily. "You're not going to touch anyone's life no matter who they are, got it?!"

__

Well this was weird. Role reversal. Brent thought as he watched Salah hang her head a bit.

Of course it didn't last long.

"Right." She perked up. "We need to get a hold of Sharpear and Tails and get the hell out of here."

"Uh, you do realize all that entire onslaught came from Advance Wing." Brent looked behind him.

"Welcome to Earth." Salah shook his paw mockingly. "Here the average collective IQ is around 12."

"Fft." Brent rolled his eyes. "Bad."

"Can't say I didn't try."

"Sure I can. That was a bad joke." Brent shrugged.

Salah thwacked him in the stomach. "Get going."

"Yes ma'am." Brent stumbled on, trying his hardest not to puke.

---

Nearly 4 days stuck in a frozen stone maze with an overachieving dog, the smarter of the two token idiot brothers, and a spitfire vixen.

Craig thought he had earned this break pretty well.

"To joyous times gone by!" He lifted up a glass of cocoa to Sora, the only other person sitting at his table, only to receive a blank stare in return.

Smiling, the rabbit took a large slurp of the beverage, burning his tongue in the process.

It wasn't even real cocoa, just a lame mix of chocolate syrup and whatever passed for milk in the Academy nuked for 5 minutes...and yet somehow it was very appealing.

"C'mon what's wrong? We all managed to nab a decent grade." He raised the mug again. "To mediocre academic performance!" He swigged the pathetic drink again, destroying the few tastes buds he had left.

"You didn't notice did you?" Sora said quietly. "Tails' group never came back."

"To disappearing honors students!"

"And apparently you didn't hear about the attack."

"Well that's a damper on the whole thing." Craig lowered the mug.

"Or the fact that this entire freaking' thing was a setup!" Sora slammed the table getting up. "With all of the resident Ka Masters not having a thing to do, who do you think the Wings are gonna drag along with them?!"

"Alright, geez. I get the idea." Craig melted into the floor as every gaze in the room came on the table. "There's really not much I can do about it though."

"You can stop being so cheery for one thing." Sora sat back down grumbling.

"You really can't stand to see anyone happy can you?"

"Not in this case."

"Hm." Craig's ears twitched. "So what are you going to do about all of it? Bauble straight into the fight?"

"You know what?" Sora created a bauble behind her. "Why not?"

"Because you know that you'd get killed." Craig smirked.

"Stuff it." Sora shook her head and smiled as the bauble collapsed into infinity. "You know, I am a little worried about Tails though. Think he can handle all the fighting without wetting himself?"

"You have weird ways of showing sympathy." Craig raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not that used to it." Sora scratched the back of her head.

---

Nearly 4 days stuck in a frozen stone maze, and then jostled off to the middle of the battle with an idiot ferret, a plain-evil elk and a deranged military captain.

Tails thought he'd earned a break pretty well.

Problem was right now, he was trying to hide in brush. Really scratchy, painful brush. If he so much as stepped out there, the Wings would have his head. Without a bandanna of any color, he was just another enemy to the rest of them. Worse yet, the dissenters themselves probably knew each other by heart, meaning he'd be a target to them also. Being out there, would be instant death, and you don't even get to choose witch side delivers it.

But in order to make his life nowhere near any level of angst, he was trying to randomize his thoughts in an attempt to pass the time.

And perfectly random they were. As soon as he started thinking about the periodic table of elements, he would wonder why Cooper was such a terrible author, and why he would name a character 'Natty Bumppo' and not get arrested, and as soon as that thought was complete he was already thinking of Thurber cartoons.

__

The crew of the Titanic screwed themselves. You don't go around claiming that God himself can't sink your ship, he'll sink your ship if he wants to. His mind raced on. _And history is current. Everything that happened on this date since the beginning of time is happening now, be it one or two hundred years ago._

"And on top of that, one day I'll have to ask Brent why he never combs his headfur." He mumbled to himself. Of course he knew it wasn't to himself. 3, 2, 1....

"It's really possible that he just li---" A new voice started.

"Nice to know you're still around Samuel-Ka. Thing's lightening up any?"

"I guess you've heard enough off screen voices to last you a lifetime." Sharpear laughed but didn't come into the kitsune's view.

"It gets old after a while. Don't tell me you abandoned the others." Tails said a little judgmentally.

"No, I came to get you. Nice plan though. Smartest move I've seen all day."

"It looks good, but I'm dead tired. How long has this thing been going on?"

"Since yesterday afternoon? 16 hours straight." Sharpear's voice didn't have a hint of fatigue in it.

"It's November the 11th." Tails suddenly remembered.

"So what?"

"The eleventh day of the eleventh month, at 7:00 AM in the morning. You said this battle lasted 16 hours."

"Again, so what?"

"World War I ends in exactly 16 hours. Historically anyway." Tails smiled, although it was pointless considering Sharpear wouldn't even see him. "Happy Armistice Day."

"Wow. There's something incredibly wrong with this." Sharpear's voice grew heavy. "I don't care what kind of vendetta the Captain has with Karastil, this is just....stupid."

"There is no vendetta."

"Are you going to mention something that I overlooked and completely change the reasoning for this fight?"

"You're no stranger to literary device either." Tails laughed. "I was standing right outside the tent when you guys where in there. Remember Axen swearing there would be an attack no matter who it was?"

"Let me guess." Sharpear sighed

"They're both in this together." The fox and dog finished in unison.

"Not bad. I see you've paying attention to what's going on around you." Sharpear sounded impressed.

"Thanks. It's not so hard, it's just you know....life altering events that threaten to consume thousands of people in a tangled web of deception."

"So help me God, I will never teach any of your classes."

"I've got that effect on people." Tails tried to lean back, but only succeed in moving his neck four inches onto prickly brush.

---

"This is my idea of hell." Brent mumbled as he ran to catch up with Salah. "Any clue where you're going?" He managed to gasp out as he reached her.

"You need to work out more." Salah smirked. "And for the record, I'm trying to find pops."

"Uh, that comment he made back in the tent? About there 'being an attack no matter what'? You don't think that's he's in on this do you?"

Salah stopped suddenly and turned around.

"No." The tone of her voice quickly told Brent to drop the subject right there and then.

And naturally....

"What? C'mon you gotta figure something is going..." Brent's left the thought open as he saw Salah just about ready to make him into a tent peg.

"Look, he may get on my nerves with stuff like this, but pops has something that the rest of us, Karastil, and every Ka Master on the face of the Earth doesn't have: A sense of honor."

Brent shook his head. "I hate to disagree, but he's pulling himself into a personal vendetta. How is that honorable?"

"Brent, he was right. You really are a clueless watermelon." Salah looked worried. "Just stop it already. Please."

Brent put his face in his paws. The Snobgirl was forceful enough when she was angry, she didn't have to make him melt into a puddle of guilt while she was at it.

"Look." He didn't lift his head. "There's absolutely nothing I don't know about your past, okay? You need to forgive yourself. It wasn't your fault and....oh c'mon you know I'm bad at this stuff."

"You really are kinda bad at it." Salah turned forward again. "But it's nice to know you care...even if you're actually making the situation worse."

"Gosh, thanks." Brent rolled his eyes. "And you're saying I can't take advantage of a fluffy moment?"

"Remember when I was 13, and I gave you a new baseball cap for Christmas? And the only thing you used it for was slinging rocks at Mike when he wasn't looking? Yeah. You can't ever just have a moment of harmony can you?"

"I never said I was ungrateful." Brent gave an exaggerated smile. "Besides, no offence, but the day this thing comes off my head, is the day I get the whole thing cut off." Brent patted the red bubba hat.

Reaching up quickly, Salah snatched it off in a glorious twirl.

"Not funny. Give it back!" Brent grabbed for it as she stepped back, allowing him to crash to the ground.

"When was the last time this thing was cleaned?" Salah looked judgmentally at the flat headpiece. "The brim looks pretty worn too."

"Give it back!" Brent sprung up again as Salah stepped back once more, just in time for his face to make contact with the dirt again.

"Why? Some tear-jerking sentimentality attached to it?" Salah waved the hat around, lifted one leg in the air, then stepped down hard on the approaching white paw. "Nice try."

With a yelp of pain, Brent shook his paw loose and nursed it. "You're just plain evil. And for the record, I just like that hat okay? Almost as much as I liked having a fully functional right paw."

"Hmm..." Salah gave him a glance. "You have the worst case of hat fur I've ever seen."

"Okay, your sending the hat thing into overkill." Brent managed to snatch it back and placed it gently on his head. "And you're lucky we're nowhere near the actual battle at this point. We would've been noticeable sloths."

"You mean sitting ducks?"

"I'm trying to create something new here, give me a br--"

Suddenly sensing a presence, both of them stopped, and turned around in a brilliant flourish, ready to fight.

"Nice to see you too?" Sharpear grinned nervously.

"Sam, where have you been?!" Salah didn't leave her attack pose.

"Uh..heh....I was um....c'mon kid help me out here." Sharpear backed up.

Tails walked into the small group, a little behind the dog. "At least someone was looking for me."

"Hey, we tried." Brent appealed.

"Hey! There's pops!" Salah half-cheered as she pointed forward with a claw. "For all that is good and holy, let's go!"

Brent looked in the direction she was pointing. "...Oh no. No. NO! DAMNIT!" He broke into a run.

An attendant dressed in MedCenter uniform had just entered a bauble, followed by the visage of a towering elk, while the Captain stood looking blankly at the now vanishing sphere.

Catching up to the calico cat, Brent slammed him against a nearby tree in total defiance of his earlier attitude.

"What the hell is going on?!" Sharpear reached the two and elbowed Axen's head into the tree. "If those kids got so much as a scratch on them...."

Axen's eyes grew straight with fear and then returned to tier usual logical believability. "This is a battlefield. I regret that all this had to..."

"SHUT UP!" Sharpear threw a fist out at him again.

"Stop it." Salah commanded as her and Tails finally caught up with them. "Pops, you swore...."

Axen's eyes lost their calmness as Salah came onto the scene. "What do you think I was doing? Sitting their twitling my paws?!"

"That's what it looked like." Tails growled.

"Look, guys." Salah tried to appeal to the boys. "I know this looks bad, but he has a point. He did defend...."

"Open your eyes Salah." Brent was breathing hard. "Look at his jacket."

And then it hit her.

All of them had suffered that day, all of them had dirt, blood, and scuff marks in various places.

Axen's jacket was perfectly clean.

A look of pure hatred tried to force itself on her face, but she closed her eyes as if to ignore it.

Brent let go of the Captain's collar. This was punishment enough, being revealed as a sad empty shell of a person, when you had everything behind you 3 seconds ago.

"Amarik is fine." Axen said quietly. "The ferret kid didn't do so well.....he rushed in swinging ridiculously. No form, no balance, nothing. He didn't even retreat when he realized half of his attackers where Advance Wing. Cut in 13 places, all of them minor, but the cumulative damage...."

"Stop talking." Brent said equally calm.

In utter silence, Salah created a bauble and vanished. Sharpear followed that, the exact same quiet way.

As Brent focused on making his, Tails clutched the training staff at his side, walked up to the Captain, and hit him with every last ounce of strength he had in the gut. Reeling back hard into the tree, Axen collapsed in an unconscious mess.

"Thanks." Brent mumbled. "If you wouldn't of, I would've."

And with that they both left the field.

---

"I hate awkward silence." Sora had her head propped up on the table with her arms. "C'mon that's too depressing. Can't we talk about how weird the word "margarine" is?"

Tails blinked. "Sora, you are without a doubt either the most uncaring, evil person I've ever met, or the most amazing."

"Right, you can't go wrong with insanity." Sora nodded.

Craig smiled and shook his head. "Both of you are complete idiots, and by being around you two....I think I've gone down a couple IQ points. Sounds good to me. You know what else is a weird word? 'Galarimfraginspiel'."

Both foxes thwacked him in the head before he could move.

"Of course God forbid you have a sense of humor to go with your stupidity." Craig rubbed his head. "Any idea why Captain Eterna would be involved in all of this in the first place?"

"It's back to the reputation issue." Sora suddenly burst into conversation as if she had been paying attention since day one. "The whole thing was staged so that Advance Wing could win out against..."

"....The newest technology available." Tails gritted his teeth. "With the superpowers on the edge of dividing themselves into literally hundreds of new countries, there's going to be a demand for fighters of any sort..."

"ESPECIALLY ONES...." Sora knocked Tails to the ground with the back of her paw "...WHO CAN PROVE THEMSELVES TO BE THE MOST FORMIDABLE TO NEW TECHNOLOGY!!!"

"SO..." Tails sprung up, tackled her to the ground, and popped his head up in Craig's view. "AXEN IS JUST ONE OF..."

"DAD'S PAWNS!" Sora walloped Tails in the face finishing the odd synopsis.

"Um...yeah." Craig smiled faintly. "We were going to talk about margarine right?"

But it was far too late, the two had already prepared their training staffs, and were counting off paces.

Craig thumped his head on the table repeatedly. You can't even introduce common sense into some people.

RETROSPECTIVE

A month late and half a page short

Okay, you can see up near the beginning _the exact time and date, _I wrote this, but I've lost my internet access (AGAIN!!) and had to find other ways of posting this. But enough with the apologies, on to the confusing plot.

I'm finally out of this story arc, thank God. I thought it was gonna last forever. I know this really didn't help clarify any plot details whatsoever, and yes I am aware that I've actually made it worse. The idea here is to show that Karastil is in charge of _everything_ the Ka Masters thought they were fighting him with. Of course I'm pretty sure I didn't need to spend 4 chapters setting that up, but the cast just wouldn't leave well enough alone.

Okay, I know I should've explained this earlier, but it sorta just popped into my head as I was typing this. When Tails made that comment about the superpowers about to dissolve, I was trying to give the setting more of an individual flavor. This is a world so taken with nationalism, that it according to it, a country shouldn't have any more than 4 major cities. I figured it would be perfect, and would allow a setup for what might be an eternal state of war and extremely cold peace, but I know it wasn't very nice of me to come up with that idea when we're so far ahead....Truly a bad move on my part, but why not?

One last comment, specifically aimed at all of you wondering why I'm not having the main characters kill anybody off (Yet) When Brent was lecturing Salah way up there on the top of the page (An image I still have trouble imagining) think of the two having a mutual agreement with each other. If the NFE makes you go berserk with each successive kill, than the lower the number, the lower the chances.

And with that I have probably explained more in these few paragraphs than I have in the entire arc.

Cool.


	20. Gathering of Idiots

"So having a nice time with all your angst?" Brent smiled at Salah who had a distinctly blank look on her face.

"Go away."

"C'mon it's seafood day down at the cafeteria, you don't want to miss the frozen fishsticks do you?"

"Go away."

"Uh..." Brent scratched the back of his head with a claw. "No."

"Go away before I hurt you."

"Fine, you know what? Just trying to help." Brent left the room.

Salah squinted. She was surrounded by rocks. Everywhere you looked everyone had some form of stupidity wallowing in their....frozen fishsticks? Damn! What a time to be having those. Couldn't the servers work the menu around shocking revelations?

She stopped her train of thought, surprised at herself. Had she really just relieved a level of self pity by thinking about food?

Great, she was turning into one of them.

---

"I don't see how anyone could resist these things." Brent mumbled biting into the icy meal with a loud crunch.

"Need I mention tapeworms?" Sharpear looked horrified.

"Ah, go chase your butt." Brent jerked his teeth back as he struggled to get a bit off.

"Upset, huh? Isn't this mostly Salah's problem?"

"It's everyone's problem. If Axen is just another one of Karastil's lackeys, we don't have anything left to fight him with."

"Nice try. You're worried about her aren't you?" Sharpear smiled deviously.

"Hey, I'm not the one who writes bad poetry to her on all the stationary."

"That's not me!!!"

"You sign them moron. And you've written a lot more then you think. We can't sit down to write a letter without reading about how her eyes resemble gasoline. What the hell kinda imagery is that anyway?"

"How 'bout this? You both suck, and deserve to be impaled with pointy objects." Salah walked behind them on her way to the serving counter.

"T.P her room tomorrow?" Brent looked over at Sharpear.

"Nah, let's just spray everything she owns with Cheez-Wiz."

"Fine with me."

---

"I hate cold weather." Sora looked outside the window on the far wall. "Hate it, hate it, hate it."

"Sora, it's 65 degrees outside." Craig leaned back.

"Of course we're in the fall/winter transition and that's a sure sign of global warming and our impending doom.." Tails couldn't help but point out. "But...um...why bring it up?"

"It's depressing, that's why, and now it's sunny and I don't have anything to feel crummy about. I need to complain about something." Sora sighed. "Genetic engineering conspiracies aren't very interesting are they? I'm so freakin' bored!"

"I'm not watching another movie down there." Craig rolled his eyes. "Lately, all they can afford are Swedish dubs of old kung fu movies."

"What's wrong with that?" Tails shrugged.

"It's in Swedish?" Craig held out his hands as if pleading for sanity.

"It's still better then most English dubs." Tails grumbled.

"Point taken." Craig darted his eyes to the left.

"Cume stole the request sheet for the TV in the Commons and ruined the schedule." Sora put her head down on the table. "So we could go watch 8 hours of independent film shorts."

"NO." Both boys shuddered.

"Tails, didn't you get some weird model airplane or something? Maybe we could work on that."

"It's an F-14 Tomcat." Tails sighed. "And I'm done."

"You got it yesterday!"

"I was bored yesterday!!"

"Well, did you ever think we'd be bored today?!"

"Why don't you just..."

"Stop." Craig narrowed his eyes.

The two reluctantly put there heads down on their arms and were silent.

Overhead a large bowl of pudding flew on it's way to the table next to them.

Besides the deafening noise of the eternal food fight, it was pretty quiet. Although it hardly made sense to any of the three.

"You know, my mom's always told me that sunny days are among the most boring things you can experience. Nothing's gonna happen when everything's normal." Sora suddenly leaned back, in an almost calm reflection.

"You call this normal?" Craig sweatdropped as a quiche landed upside down in the center of their table.

"For here? Yeah, it's mundane." Sora rubbed her eyebrows with a paw. "But think about that. Irony only happens where it can. If things seem boring, it'll make things desperate, if thing's seem perfect, it'll ruin everything. On a day like today where anything can happen, nothing will."

Tails nodded. "That's a pretty cool paradox."

"Yeah? Well I've been hanging around you too long." Sora smirked. "Now, my brain's slowly thinking about the useless stuff."

"Um..." Craig looked over. "You might want to grab an orange or two. Looks like everyone's getting ready to charge the service counter."

"They're so dead. The servers have an unlimited supply of _anything_ down there." Tails shook his head. "A direct assault wouldn't work."

Craig nodded. "A good old distraction technique might work though."

"You idiots. Do you realize you're talking military strategy for a food fight?!" Sora looked at them both contemptibly

"To arms!" The two rushed off.

Sora picked a flying fork out of the air. Those jerks weren't gonna leave her out of this one...

---

About three or four hours away from the Academy was a village so small, it technically didn't exist. Yet someway, somehow, they had a small hotel that always managed to do good business with passers-by and of course Ka Masters who wanted to avoid the Academy as much as possible.

Outside in what the hotel referred to as a "dining garden" (One picnic table with a flower bed on the left side), three figures were sitting, glasses half full of a drink, obviously alcoholic whatever it was, they had long forgotten to finish.

"Look, no matter how much you want to argue the point, Karastil's heading straight for Daroun. The whole returning to the scene of the crime thing, that's what it is." Michael threw a paw down. "Egotistical maniac. He's out to rewrite history."

"Say what you will Mike, but he's not going anywhere. Karastil doesn't have any interest in conquering something, he's only in it for the money." Juro leaned back in his chair. "Once news spreads around that the Wings crushed "the Ultimate Soldiers" every nation around here is gonna want to hire 'em."

"Heh...whatever. What's your whole take on it Nibbler?" Michael smiled as he looked towards Mason.

"Call me that again and I'll cut your stupid pointy ears off." The squirrel grumbled. "I don't know, and I really don't care. Shouldn't we be going after him no matter what?"

"You're impatient, you always have to be whinin' about something . And aren't you a little young to be drinkin' that stuff?"

"Just because I don't have arthritis in both my paws doesn't mean I'm a kid."

"No, but the fact you're still playing with swords doesn't help your image much."

Mason frowned spectaculary. "You want to see how many ways I can slice those stupid metal poles of yours?"

"Want to see how many ways I can impale your stomach?" Michael growled and then laughed out of nowhere. "You're getting there Mason. Before you know it, you'll be shooting off "grizzled veteran" threats like the best of us."

"He's right though." Juro leaned forward again. "We should go after Karastil right now anyway."

"Yeah, and take on an entire army while we're at it?" Michael raised an eyebrow. "You guys are just chock-full of strategy ain't ya?"

"What's our other choice? Get a bunch of kids who've barely seen any fighting to help us out?" Juro grumbled.

"I don't know about that." Michael shrugged. "Salah seems like she could take on an army or two." The wolf smiled darkly and jerked a paw towards Mason whose eyes had clouded over.

Both brothers thwacked the squirrel on the back of the head.

"I'd stay away from her pal. She doesn't seem to take too kindly to ya."

Mason turned a furious crimson. "G-go howl at something."

"That was the best comeback you could come up with?" Michael shook his head. "I thought we taught you better then that. Don't really blame you though. She's got some sort of an odd charm to her, huh?"

Michael's eyes started to cloud over also. "Sometimes she reminds me of Meora...."

Juro and Mason smirked at each other and thwacked Michael in the back of the head.

"Uh, you think you guys could show a little sympathy?" Michael rubbed the point of impact.

"That was a long time ago Mike. I miss her too, but there's no reason to be goin' all fuzzy on us whenever someone mentions her name." Juro shook his head. "Sometimes I think you're still bitter that she married Axen."

"I am. She deserved better then some slimy pawn."

"Think carefully. What were we on the night we fought Taraku?"

"....Slimy rooks."

"Wow that's sad." Mason smirked. "Are you trying to make everything sound better with bad sarcasm?"

"You two are very cruel to an old wolf. Can't you just let me have a tear-jerking moment with my memories of someone I really cared about?"

"If we did, you'd break off into an angst filled rant about how we're all inherently evil. We already know that." Juro nodded.

"Face it. You just have 'wise old man' tendencies you need to spout out." Mason shrugged.

"Shut up and get ready for a rant." Michael waved them off.

The main difference between him and the others at the Academy, was that he simply didn't care about being stereotypical. In a sense it made him more of an individual.

Plus every chance he got to complain about the state of affairs on the planet just plain annoyed the others.

For some reason, he liked that.

---

In another city, much farther away, a group of people met. They didn't like the fact their neighbor's borders took so much mountainous wasteland up. So they decided to have a war.

But wars usually ended up costing them their valuable drones--er...men. What they needed was a replacement for their own soldiers. Someone that could take on an entire army, and do it well.

So they started to brainstorm.

The Ka Masters came up.

Cheap, effective...it works.

The group all smiled at how clever they were, and then broke for lunch.

They all got into an argument about whether to have chicken or tacos, and got so mad at each other, each one forgot to smear their opponent's image for an entire week.

"...And that's when I started to hyperventilate." Brent finished his story with a completely serious look on his face.

"I still don't get the part about the squid." Slak pondered in thought for a moment.

"Look, all I asked you to do was pass the tarter sauce. How in the world did we get there?" Sharpear leaned back, a little scared.

"You mentioned tarter sauce?" Salah walked by again. "Let me guess, he went off about bullfighting again."

"I think at one point the conversation included a bull." Tyson sighed. "I think."

"Your fault. By the way has anybody seen Kura? She was supposed to sub for me today while I take some extra lab work."

"She's over there contemplating the meaning of grease fryers." Brent pointed a claw behind him.

"HEY KURA! Apparently 2nd hour class didn't have a teacher. They ended up yelling at each other, and Trask fed Cume his own beak. Can't you just---"

A huge rumbling sound came from below them.

"They're charging the servers!" Slak hit the ground. "The revolution is upon us!"

"....And on top of that, it's your day to clean the cafeteria." Salah finished.

"Is a grid made of squares or crosses?" Kura squinted. "Technically you could say both...aahhhk!" Salah drug her by the neck to the table and let go.

"Can't you be a little kinder?" Tyson looked at Salah with a furrowed brow.

"I'll show you kinder." Salah mumbled. "CAJUN SHRIMP!" She yelled in Brent's ear.

"There's a story ladies and gentlemen. It involves psychic seahorses, and man eating humidifiers. Heard it from Cume. Poor kid nearly flew off telling me about it...." Brent threw a paw in the air thoughtfully.

Salah smiled darkly and walked out.

Yeah, she was having a nice time with all her angst.

---

"Alright! Fifth Platoon, you guys have some reach with those pent-up sodas, go after the chili pots. Trask! You're elite ain't you? You can take the ovens. Use those brownies. Those things are so burnt anyway they could dent Mount Everest. Gil! Stop eating the pretzels! We need those!"

Sora and Tails stared open mouthed at Craig. Apparently the little rabbit had a head for military strategy.

"It's the same thing with Napoleon wasn't it? I mean, he was short." Sora shook her head trying to believe what was going on.

"Napoleon was a crazed dictator who was attracted to his wife's body odor. Somehow, I don't think Craig quite fits that bill." Tails rubbed his muzzle.

"Alright, get ready to charge just about....HEADS DOWN! HEADS DOWN! WATCH THOSE PICKLE SPEARS!!...ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT LET'S G---"

Everyone immediately dropped their edible weapons, including the servers.

The remaining two members of the Ta'Ka and Axen had walked in.

"Clear out." Stanson smirked.

The student body almost saluted as one and quietly shuffled out the double doors.

"I can't believe it! I was this close! This close!" Craig kicked the ground once they were out of hearing range. "They didn't stand a chance with that plan. It was..."

"Let it go man." Tails shook his head at the rabbit.

"Yeah, I think I finally snapped 'eh?" Craig smiled sheepishly.

"Never knew you to be a general." Sora laughed a little. "You always insist on taking Antarctica whenever we play Threat."

"It's the gateway to lower central Alaska. Mark my words that'll come in handy someday."

"Hmm" Tails turned around. "The Wings are headed in there."

"Some sort of meeting?" Sora did the same. "Why wouldn't they just use the Arena?"

"The Cafeteria is actually bigger then the Arena. They're getting every last member in there."

"Don't be stupid. There's at least a couple thousand more soldiers that aren't even in this area." Sora bit her lower lip. "And even if they were here, they could fit them in that place, but it'd be a tight squeeze."

"Guess some are gonna have to suck their guts in. Look." Tails looked wide eyed down the hallway.

An endless march of animals and humans, endless red and blue bandannas, and once every great while, one would be dressed up in full regalia. Of course it was nothing more than a small jacket, but it was uncommon to see it.

The three pinned themselves on the lockers lining the wall to give the new arrivals a little more room. Not like it would matter.

And for some strange reason they all tended to swat Sora on the back on the head. Eventually she had to start begging them not to. Not like she could do much else in this mess.

"Okay, do they all just hate you or..." Craig looked worried.

"Who Miss Lateri?" One soldier laughed. "Are you kidding? We all got nothin' but respect for her, right guys?"

The crowd burst into a unified and deafening, "RIGHT!"

Sora sunk into the ground, her muzzle a shameful pink.

"Anyone who can stand up to that unholy bastard has gotta be tough, right? Well we just make sure she doesn't go soft on us!" Another soldier laughed. "You kids were in on that too right?" The crowd now made it a point to hit all of the trio on the head.

"It's sorta a mark of respect." Sora whispered to others. "They usually only do this to new recruits."

"Great, a concussion of honor. There's a joke somewhere in that..." Tails half-smirked.

"Do us a favor and don't pick at it. It'll probably end up being some lame pun." Craig folded an ear down and sprang it back up.

---

Somewhere in the back of the crowd, the residential Ka Masters were also walking along. Apparently the Ta'Ka wanted everybody in on this.

"Look at them. Strutting around like they own the place." Slak spat as he gazed towards the older teachers.

"Uh, they do." Tyson raised an eyebrow.

"I thought those geezers were in reserve. They can't be serious about calling this many people in." Kura half-whined as the group slowly made it's way across the hall.

"For God's sake I hope they don't call up my parents." Brent shuddered. "They'll make me do push-ups if I'm too flabby. I'm somewhat muscular right?"

"Other than the fact you just about have sticks for arms, could barely lift that crate of textbooks, and spend most of your days trying to get all the endings in Chrono Cross...you could say somewhat." Salah smiled. "And shouldn't the students be more worried about their parent's visiting? You should be glad if they stop by."

"Can you imagine how that conversation would be go? 'So Brent, what've you been doing for the past 3 years?' 'Nothing much...a little looting on one side, stealing, thievery, embezzlement, the usual stuff.'"

"You were never charged with embezzlement." Salah gave him a judgmental look. "20 bucks says you barely know what that means anyway."

"Add that to my tab."

"You're past the $250 mark. And that was all done in an impressive 6 months."

"How did you manage..." Sharpear started.

"The Snobgirl managed to cheat at Tetris."

"Why were you taking bets on Tetris?"

"Brent was a little loopy from eating imported Squid Shreds. You'd be amazed at what someone whose gone delirious on rubbery fish will do." Salah laughed a little.

"They weren't that bad." Brent smiled and looked on ahead. "This line is not moving."

"Lines aren't supposed to move." Slak narrowed his eyebrows. "That's why you have them. To keep you from going places, you see?"

"I could spout off some completely useless facts." Brent raised a claw. "Let's see..." He pondered in thought for a bit. "You can tell if a pig is sick if it stops curling it's tail."

"I'm never going to use that in life, but for some reason it was vaguely interesting." Kura put a paw up to her chin in contemplation.

---

"And why are we back here?" Mason struggled through the crowd. "I don't think the whole "fugitive" thing's worn off yet."

"You're the one that wanted to come right to Karastil right?" Michael shrugged.

"I didn't actually mean....nowmaybe in a couple months..."

"Relax, we're just here to see what's going on." Juro yawned. "Besides they can't search through this crowd, they've got nearly every Ka Master in the region here."

"Not everyone. Looks like some of the reserves got off easy. Too bad. I wanted to talk with some old friends." Michael smiled lopsidedly. "You don't think I'm getting too old for this, do you Juro? Everyone else besides us retired a while ago."

"No one from back then ever found out about Karastil." Juro stated flatly.

"Have them pick up a newspaper, they'll figure it out. I'd like to see Tara give that fluffball a run for his money."

"How about Will? Now he could spin a Heavy Swing."

"Well if we're going to go on about the fancy stuff--"

"Uh, guys? Hate to interrupt the whole semi-flashback thing, but..." Mason pointed ahead in the crowd.

---

"That seems a little dangerous." Tails managed to stand up amidst the crowd. "Look at that mouse over there."

An average build member of Guard Wing had some poor sap pinned to the wall with a Ka Staff, and was currently yelling at him.

"When I said, 'move' I meant it!" The mouse breathed heavily on his victim's face. "You just gonna stand there and clutter up my way?"

"What the--? How dense do you have to be?" Sora put her head up, in time to receive to get swatted.

"What? What is it?" Craig was virtually jumping to see over everyone.

"You're not gonna listen then?" The mouse pushed up on the staff.

"What in the name of fuzz are you doing? The poor guy can't move! You've got him stuck to the freakin' wa---" One soldier tried to point out.

"Shut up." The mouse was still breathing heavily. "He's weak. Otherwise he'd move, right?"

"I can't take this." Tails shook his head. "Why isn't anyone stopping him?"

"It's not like it's a matter of life or death. You need to get over the whole 'heroic justice' thing." Sora tried to clap her paws behind her, but ended up smacking someone in the back. "Er...sorry."

"Look, this isn't going to end well..." Craig had managed to climb a little ways onto the lockers and was holding on to the top, as he looked at the scene. "If someone doesn't do something, we'll have to."

"Why? It's not our business." Sora narrowed her eyes. "I know it sounds evil, but we can't solve everybody's problems. Leave that to the people in charge."

"Sora, look at the guy!" Tails yelled at her.

"Weakness has no place in an army." The mouse continued, his eyeballs almost identical to wavelengths. "The weak just die. Want me to help you along with that?"

"That's just overbearing cockiness." Sora waved it off. "No matter how much you want to philosophize about power being intoxicating, no one would get that carried away about...their...own...." It suddenly hit her. "Here?! Now?! The odds have got to be a couple billion to negative one!"

"Statistics usually tend to lie." Craig sighed, still hanging from the lockers. "I thought you would've gotten that by now.

Tails nodded. "This is what the NFE really is then? Just an ego trip? I kinda was expecting more somehow."

The mouse suddenly let go of the staff, letting his victim crash to the ground. "Sorry about that. Sometimes my temper gets the best of me."

"See?" Sora sighed partly from relief. "It was just one of those---"

"Like right now." The mouse took the soldier by the neck and threw him across the room. The poor guy slammed against the lockers next to the three, with a fantastically loud ring. Craig yelped and fell off the top.

"Okay, that had to get their attention." Tails angrily looked around. "CAN'T ANY OF YOU BASTARDS ACTUALLY SEE WHAT'S GOING ON?!" He yelled to the entire gathering, only to be greeted with some good natured head-thwacking.

"That's it!!" The fox climbed the lockers slowly spinning his tails. "I don't care about who's business it is, I'm sick of it!" He kicked off the front of them, rocketing towards the mouse, above the crowd, training staff in hand.

Aiming perfectly, his oversized sneaker collided with the rodent's face, this time slamming him onto the row of lockers.

The mass of people, broke from the area almost immediately, giving him just enough room to slide back a little and land, in complete battle pose.

Look at him. He was almost laughing in his mind. _The sap goes around yelling about strength and he can't even..._ The thought was immediately cut off as the mouse lunged for his legs, both tumbling into the crowd.

He was almost laughing in his mind. The thought was immediately cut off as the mouse lunged for his legs, both tumbling into the crowd. 

"STOP!" Salah suddenly rushed forward pushing everyone out of her way. "Prower, move back to the side, this doesn't involve you. And as for you, state your gene enhancements." She looked towards the mouse.

"The mouse stared at her with a look of surprise. "Full treatment. Why's it matter?!"

It was all Salah could take to keep from dropping to her knees. Full treatment? Here? Now? Maybe if the fail-safe took effect right here and now, they could prevent any injury, but it would be an astronomical occurrence for it to happen at this very second.

"Why's it matter?!!!" The mouse screamed again, getting up in battle stance.

Salah regained her composure somewhat. "Procedure of Neo Factor Experiment, requires all persons involved to hold to certain standards. The first is the abstainment of any physical conflict in peaceti---"

The mouse swung the staff at her in a rage. Reacting almost instantly, Salah reached up with her own and blocked it.

"Me?" Salah started to hiss. "I'm also full treatment. And I don't have the pleasure of a peaceful death hanging over my head."

"Not you too." Tails pleaded. "Of all people, you're the one that has to keep some sanity."

She ignored him.

"You think that guy back there was weak? You have no idea what's in store for you in....I'd say the next 5 years....you'll just feel tired one day and it's all over. No more strength. No more of it ripping through your mind, no more destructively violent fantasies you have to struggle to ignore, just peace."

"Oh holy crap." A voice came from about 2 rows ahead of them. Michael came charging down, shuffling through everyone. "Don't make another move Eterna. You don't what a repeat of 3 years ago."

Salah took her paw, and held the mouse's mouth shut. With her other paw, she then inched her staff as close to his adam's apple as possible.

"Wouldn't it be more convenient for you to die, choking on your own vomit? You'd be surprised how sensitive the neck is."

"Whoa." On the other side of the hallway, both Sora and Craig were clinging to the lockers, first of all to avoid the new mass of people that had gravitated over here, and second of all to watch the confrontation. "I didn't know Salah-Ka could be that..."

"Evil?" Craig looked terrified.

"Brilliant." Sora smiled. "That's the kind of threat for one to aspire to. I'm in awe."

A shrill siren-like whistle came from nowhere.

Michael stepped forward. "Let him go, Salah."

Salah backed away from the mouse and turned around in a flourish. "I have every right to kill him. I have every right to kill all of them. You're a good guy Mike. One for justice I think...why shouldn't I?"

"Because you're not going to be conscious long enough to continue that train of thought." Michael stood in battle pose.

"So what? You're gonna knock me out? I'm not Brent, I can take you on head to head and not even break a sw--" She suddenly felt the throbbing pain of metal in the back of her head, and fell to the ground in a mess, completely senseless.

"In a way, I've always wanted to do that." Brent put hooked his staff back at his hip. "But I also feel like the world's biggest jerk."

"Don't worry about it. Had to be done." Michael smiled a bit. "Nice call on that one. I never knew you could whistle that loudly."

"Actually, that was Sharpear." Brent smiled sheepishly. "But at least you got the general area right, I was standing right next to him."

"Hm.." Michael scratched an ear. "Now my hearing's going too. What kind of omnipresent shadowy figure am I supposed to be if I can't even pinpoint things perfectly anymore?"

"Uh? Mike?" The cat pointed ahead.

The wolf turned around to face the multitude of beasts and humans. "Uh...carry on?"

An almost collective shrug rippled through them as they started to crowd the hallway again.

"Can you three get her down to the MedCenter?" Brent looked at Tails. "There's something going on and I don't want to miss it."

"You're taking the mystery over the girl?" Tails smirked. "Not very heroic."

"No but, bouncing off the lockers was. So that puts you as the acting 'knight in shining armor.' Brent thwacked him in the back if the head.

"What about the mouse?" Tails raised an eyebrow.

"The Snobgirl scared him out of the whole 'berserk' thing. You know, fight genetic enhancement with genetic enhancement..."

"Right." Tails started off to get the others. "At the very least, tell me what's going on when everything's said and done."

Brent nodded as Tails went off to fight his way through the collection of soldiers.

"You know, you never dragged me into any evil conspiracies....well except for telling me what it is they put in the Shepard's Pie here. I might never be able to forgive you for that. I really enjoyed it up to then."

"Maybe if you weren't so busy getting trying not to fail half the time, I could've got you in on it. But it was much more fun to see you suffer." Michael nodded jokingly.

"So...one of those 'good ole days' flashback conversations. So we're back on good terms?" Brent asked curiously.

"Not quite. I don't trust you one quark." Michael growled a bit. "But I guess we'll stop trying to kill you."

"Great, all that leaves on my list of people trying to tear me apart is....well....everyone I've ever met." Brent's eyes narrowed in thought.

"Look, we can't take Karastil on in the middle of something this huge." Michael snapped the conversation back to business. "And there's no guarantee that arresting him, or even killing him is gonna stop whatever this thing is. He's not in charge of it."

"Okay, pleasedon't tell me there's a higher power trying to manipulate everything." Brent looked worried.

"That's not what I meant. There's only one explanation for them calling these many people up." The old wolf stared blankly into space. "There's a war."

RETROSPECTIVE

Look, an update!

Well this is awkward. It's been nearly 2 and a half months since the last chapter. I hope you guys are still reading this. Anyway, it's not writer's block, I've just had some trouble getting out of the post-vacation funk, but now that's over and the next update should be much, much sooner.

I kinda don't like this chapter. I gave it a couple months to develop and it still led nowhere. Mind you, I thought the last scene went pretty well, but it feels like I'm starting to repeat myself.

No real deep insights here. I guess that might be a reason why this one was so uninteresting. As one side note, Mason is 19, and the Banelan brothers are both in their 40's. I don't think I ever pointed that out.

For those of you who wanted to see Crayshen's parents, too bad. Putting them in, would just seem kinda stupid and on top of that, I'm trying not to expand the cast anymore than I have to.

(But yes, both his Mom and Dad are Ka Masters)

Yes, a war is brewing, and it's gonna be....interesting.....heh heh heh....anyway, I wanted to move some action away from the Academy in order to get a change of pace.

Oh, and for those of you wondering exactly where we are in the timeline, if the story itself takes place over 9 months, it's been 6.,which means only two months since Drills. I've been a little too lenient on letting time pass and I need to clamp down and pay attention.

And as one final, final, note, would someone besides me please read Damiar's stuff? The guy can write circles around me, why do you think he's on my favorites list? Of course, he's the only author on my favorite's list (Not to say I don't like you guys, I just never get around to working on those things.)

Oh great, now he's going to rub it in my face for the next month or so.

I take it all back.


	21. Throwing The Mess on Their Backs

"I'd say something about Salah-Ka needing to lose weight, but I'm afraid she'd resuscitate and slap me in the face." Tails cracked his back and fell onto the grass.

"Stop whining. All we did was drag her into a bauble." Sora brushed it off judgmentally.

"Well, the hallways are blocked, we can't go to the cafeteria...anything left to do?" Craig looked at his friends.

"Nope. We're back to square one." Sora sat down and contemplated her footpaw.

"Well as long as no more evil mice attack." Craig leaned up against a nearby tree looking utterly ridiculous due to his stature.

A pair of Guard Wing soldiers started to walk by, the conversation just audible as they passed.

"...Going down the tubes. If we get called in for some miserable fight just to defend a stupid wasteland, then I've pretty much wasted my training." One was complaining.

"Ain't your fault. You just weren't born in the right time period. Daroun was a fight and don't you forget it." His companion waved a paw

"How could I forget it? You never shut up about it." The two finally walked out of hearing range.

"...Okay, that was a very convenient conversation to overhear." Tails furrowed his brow. "I guess this means, we'll be pulled into something major."

"Like it matters anymore." Sora mumbled. "How come you and Craig manage to do all this crap, and still keep your grades up?"

"Well for one, we don't snore our way to D's." Tails got back up.

"Or call the teachers 'uneducated rolls of furry crap' to their faces." Craig added.

"That's gonna get you in trouble one day Miss Lateri." Ketwen walked of nowhere, towards the three.

"Ketwen-Ka." Craig and Tails saluted. Sora stared blankly at the ermine for a second, and snapped to attention.

"Give up the 'respectful' act." Ketwen snorted as they dropped the salute. "Listen, I know it sounds cliche, dumb, and pointless since you won't listen, but stay out of other people's business. We know where you've been."

"Yeah, where you guys told us to be." Sora raised an eyebrow.

"That was a splinter faction. They've been rooted out." Ketwen stared straight at them.

"In other words, you don't know who it was." Craig rolled his eyes.

"We'll find out!" Ketwen shouted back. "Now are you gonna stay put or not?"

"Would a frank 'no' be answer enough?" Tails narrowed his eyes menacingly.

"You forget, you're in here on charity Mr. Prower. Expelling you would be extremely simple." Ketwen tried snapping back to 'disturbingly calm' dialogue.

"You honestly think that expelling me would stop me? I have some friends that would be pretty interested in looking into all of this." Tails smirked.

"Then you'll be dragging them into hell with you." Ketwen shook his head.

"What, seriously, that was the best threat you could come up wi" Tails stopped as he noticed a Ka Staff pointed at his neck.

"Much better." The fox nodded sarcastically.

"Honestly, do you want to get yourself killed?" Ketwen drew back the staff. "Ah crap, I can't threaten a kid. I'll tell Karastil I scared you off. Go ahead, do want you want." The older teacher started to walk off. "Just...try to tone it down a little. I don't want to look bad."

"Well that was easy." Craig leaned back against the tree again. "No pointless fighting for today." He spun his training staff around.

Within 3 seconds he was holding a stub of metal perfectly cut off at the top, not even grazing his paw.

"Why do I even bother?" The tiny rabbit let go of the stub as Tails and Sora turned with him to face the oncommer.

"I would take Ketwen's warning if I were you." The figure turned out to be Mason, the broadsword in his paws shining in full glory. "You don't know..."

"What we're getting into." The trio finished flatly.

"Yeah we do." Tails sighed. "Karastil wants to manipulate the politics of the region to try and scrounge up some work, and as a sidenote some of his cronies are a little stronger then normal."

"Oh..." Mason blinked. "So...you do." The squirrel hooked the sword back at his hip. "Uh, sorry about that. I thought the warning would've more of a kick if I started it off like that." He nodded a little sheepishly to Craig.

"No, it's no problem." Craig picked up the severed parts of the training staff. "I'll just ask Sora's aunt if she can send double tuition to cover this."

"Fine." Mason threw down a thick wad of money at the rabbit's feet. "I hope you're happy. I won't be eating for the next week."

"No, no..." Craig backed up from it. "By all means, I'll just have to check the change receivers on the payphones to scratch up some extra cash."

"Take it." Mason sighed. "But I'm never going to get to leave here. Just stay in this area, bumming my way around..."

"I'll have to sell the cot in my dorm." Craig threw in.

"Can't buy the thinnest of coats without that." Mason pointed to the money.

"AHA!" Craig threw out an accusing paw. "Why would you need a stinkin' coat? You've got perfectly good fur."

"Damn..." Mason muttered. "It's yours then...just remember, I'll be alone and..."

"You lost, give it up." Craig smirked taking the money.

"If I find out you used that for anything but fixing that piece of crap..." Mason let the threat hang in the air.

"Relax, I'm not evil." The rabbit shrugged.

"Hey, Mason right?" Tails stepped forward.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"Mind if I ask what the deal with the sword is?"

Mason smiled. "I don't like staffs."

"Huh...okay." Tails shrugged slowly.

"There's actually a long, complicated, flashbacky reason why, but I'm not gonna go into it. Ever." Mason turned around. "Just try to remember that what you're learning here is how to be a solider. You're expected to kill."

"Okay, that kind of gave the whole thing away." Sora raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, angsty first kill?"

"That wouldn't make any sense would it?" Mason's created a bauble. "Otherwise why would I carry around a weapon ten times stronger?" He left it at that stepping into the sphere and vanishing.

"That guy doesn't like to finish a conversation does he?" Craig flipped through the money.

"You're going to buy enough tuna salad to last you through your middle ages aren't you?" Tails smiled.

"You know me way too well. I'll guess I'll have to find a way to have Mrs. Lateri get me that double tui" Craig looked down at the cut staff. "On second thought, I think I'll just pay for the repairs." He scratched his neck, glad it was still there.

* * *

"...Needless to say, the Governing Council has decided to employ us to their full advantage. Our mission will be to secure an area of land 30 miles into the neighboring nation of incoherent mumbling , where upon our employers will gain all benefits. The pay..." Axen let it ripen for a minute. "Is 20 million dollars. Now I know some of you are on reserve. That doesn't mean..."

As the Captain babbled on, Brent was standing next to Salah far in the back.

"That was a quick recovery. What'd you do? Sneak out of the MedCenter?." He whispered to her.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Be quiet, I can barely hear pops."

"What was the name of the country he wants us to invade?" Brent continued.

"I don't know, I can't hear him. I guess it rhymes with 'porridge.' that's all I heard."

Brent thought for a minute. "You know 'porridge' nearly rhymes with orange."

"Shut up, now I can't hear anything!" Salah nearly hissed at him.

The two continued to try and decode the muffled talking from the front.

"Hey." Brent nudged her with his elbow.

"What!" She whispered furiously.

"Stop swishing your tail everywhere. I can't focus."

Salah turned around thwacking him in the head. "Why the hell where you looking at my tail!" She tried to control her voice.

"Well it's not like I can help it. You wave the stupid thing around all the time."

"Really?" Salah let her tail drop.

"What? It's not like I'm complaining. You have a nice tail."

"It makes me sound slutty." Salah was in confused thought.

"Like I said I'm not..."

Up in the front, Axen's speech was slightly marred by a loud "OW!" that echoed across the entire room.

"Keep your mouth shut." Salah turned back around to try and see over the line of people.

"It...hurts...to...talk." Brent managed to rasp out, lying in a mound of pain on the floor.

'...That this will indeed be the best moment we've had as Ka Masters, as soldiers, and as comrades since Daroun. Thank you." Axen concluded.

Slightly hostile clapping ensued. Not applause, that's something you save for a happy occasion. Everyone there was miserable after hearing that message.

An ancient prairie dog stumbled up to the stage, managing to outdo Craig in terms of pure shortness. Standing up on a covered stool, he struggled to reach the podium.

"At the very least I can stand Caide." Salah whispered to the pile of fur that used to be Brent. "I mean, he was always pretty nice to us."

"I...need...a Band-Aid..." She got as a response.

"You need several Band-Aids."

"Help..."

"Once this is over. Be quiet."

"As most of you pro'ly know, I've stuck around the Wings longer than any of you saps. I joined when Paul Crayshen was in charge, and stayed long enough to fail his grandson."

"At least he remembers you." Salah smiled.

"Can't...roll...eyes..."

"You won't be rolling anything for a while."

"I've seen a lotta fights. Cadu, Tieraine, Daroun...that's just a sampler. I could go on for a while. You guys know Ka Staffs weren't made to block bullets, they were made to cut off the hand of the person shooting the gun. I don't r'lly care about the science crap that's involved, something about momentum, I don't know. What I do know, is that in the right hands, these stupid metal poles can do a lot of destructive things. I also know that this world's changed since all the countries split up, and weapons are a lot stronger than anything that we faced back in the old days."

Caide wheezed a bit and cleared his throat.

"I also know, that this is the most idiotic idea I've heard in a long time. Marching against some country over some dirt, and a few hills, is just havin' war for war's sake. But that's who we are. We're soldiers. And no matter how incredibly dumb it is, I'm going to stand my ground and pro'lly get killed. Welcome to your chosen profession." The brittle rodent stepped off the stool, this time to sarcastic applause intermixed with a few whistles.

"Notice something?" Salah looked around.

"What?" Brent struggled to get up, almost collapsing.

"Karastil's not here"

"He's scared of your dad." Brent smirked.

"Don't start with me." Salah's voice started to grow a little angry.

"I'm serious. Even if they are in this whole thing together, I think Karastil's just scared of what Axen can do. You gotta admit, he does have a lot of pull around here. In fact you were the one who never let us forget that in training. Although that still didn't exactly give you the right to have us wait on you paw and foot."

"You can choke on an unpeeled grape." Salah threw a paw up jokingly.

"Okay maybe not paw and foot, but you still ran us like a herd of sheep."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Now let's get back to the faculty cafeteria. I don't want to miss the Frogurt." Salah created a bauble and pushed him towards it.

"But you hate Frogurt." Brent tried to resist to no effect.

"I hate this more." Salah finally shoved him into the sphere and stepped in along with him.

* * *

"Can't we do something at least mildly entertaining?" Sora slammed her head against Tails' small desk he had converted into a workbench.

"This is mildly entertaining." Tails didn't look up from the disassembled mini-bot. "Do you know how cool this thing'll be when I finish it?"

"Is that supposed to look like you? It resembles an orange pig."

"You try detailing something this small." Tails grumbled and continued to insert a very tiny gear into the device.

"So what'll it do that's different from the old one?" Craig was flipping through Tails' small collection of books.

"It won't go crazy and try to kill us this time." Tails laughed a bit, still focused on the mini-bot.

"So it's the exact same thing?" Sora rolled her eyes.

"Pretty much."

"A book of poetry from Whitman? I thought you hated him." Craig picked up a random book.

"I do. That was a birthday gift from Sonic. He tried." Tails smirked. "I still have trouble imagining him going into a bookstore. I really do hate Whitman though. You can't write a stinkin' 52 stanza poem about how great you are. It's pigheaded, ridiculous...it's something Sora would do." He looked at her for a second.

"Yes it is. But then again I can't write poetry. It always turns out to be about dancing blocks of cheese drinking milk..." Sora shook her head. "Isn't that cannibalism anyway?"

Tails stared at her mouth agape for a second and turned back to the mini-bot.

"Now over on the left..." He motioned to Craig to pick up a new book.

"Lewis Carroll's _Alice Through The Looking Glass_. Hmmm... An acid trip disguised as a kid's story. I always liked his stuff."

"That's good writing. It works on one level when you're 8 and another when you're 30." Tails closed up a panel on the device and leaned back. "Finesse." He nodded and scooted it back to make more room on his desk.

"Now what the heck is this?" Craig picked up a stack of random papers. "Crap! This is stuff about the NFE. Where'd you get a hold of this?"

"Found it." Tails put his paws behind his head leaning back in the chair.

"You found classified reports." Sora's brow wrinkled. "Right..."

"Okay, so I stole them."

"I thought you knew all this stuff anyway." Craig flipped through the papers.

"Bedtime reading. It's nice to keep on everything. Plus the whole experiment is just kinda cool to read about. Turns out there's a reason why the NFE is temporary in some cases. The mutated DNA conforms to the regular code surrounding it."

"What?" Sora pushed back on the chair trying to make him crash.

Tails grabbed a hold of the bottom of his desk and dragged himself up before he could fall.

"It goes against the laws of nature sorta. You know, only the strong survive and all that? The weaker DNA is literally absorbing the mutation."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why did Salah-Ka snap back there then?" Craig put the papers down.

"That's the weird part. In some cases, the mutation sticks, but all it needs is a trigger, a variable...a...a..."

"Factor?" Sora offered.

"And there you have it." Tails nodded and raised an eyebrow. "You're actually paying attention to this!"

"Surprise." Sora frowned. "I'm not an idiot Prower."

"That's what Karastil wanted all along, perfectly controllable soldiers. Flick a switch and..." Tails snapped his fingers.

"A trigger?" Craig rubbed his eyebrows. "And that would be?"

"Originally it was the drive for war, basis of both humanity and anthropormorphity. To put it in Freudian terms, the Id."

"Great, now we can get into long discussions about the symbolism of the human mind in Xenogears." Sora clasped her paws together and shivered. "So many metaphors..."

"You're still upset about Disc 2 aren't you?"

"Damn characters sitting around in chairs talking about everything instead of letting us go through it!" Sora slammed a paw onto Tails desk, nearly knocking the mini-bot off.

"First of all, that was Square's fault for rushing their development teams every freakin' game. Remember the second ending to Final Fantasy VII?" Tails grabbed it before it fell off.

"No."

"Exactly. Anyway, to get back on the actual subject, Freud theorized that the conscienceless is based into three parts. The Superego, the Ego, the Id. The Superego is civilization, feelings installed into you based on logic and morals, the Id is the driving force to live no matter what the cost, and the Ego is left to sort it all out. Now what would happen if your Superego and Id overrode one another?"

"You'd be very, very messed up." Craig rolled his eyes.

"Believe or not, you're exactly right. Remember what we saw earlier today? The NFE kills your conscience. You're left with no morals, only a sense of power. But it didn't work right in Daroun. People went berserk and stayed berserk. The Id, the driving force to live, is not the ideal trigger. That's why it's the Neo Factor Experiment. Anyone who's taken basic Latin knows the word "neo" means "new" right? In other words, there's another trigger setting it off." Tails caught his breath. "Death."

"Wait, I thought you said the Id isn't the trigger anymore? Wouldn't the threat of death be part of that?" Sora leaned forward.

"Not your impending death...murder. The drive to kill, not to survive. Now I don't agree with Freud in any way, the guy wanted to marry his mom, but the whole division thing is true to a point. Not totally, but to a point. There's something he missed in all of it."

"What?"

"Love, compassion, morals, history, hatred, conceit...Abstractions can't be ana"

"Arghh! Anime philosophizing!" Sora covered her ears. "You swore you wouldn't do that!"

"Sorry, sorry. Bad habit." Tails quickly shut up.

"Thanks a lot Sora, that puts a damper on anything interesting." Craig nearly spit at her.

"Well to ignore the annoying buck, and anymore of your horrible 'love makes the world go around' speeches, I'm just going to go watch those damned independent films. I enjoy senseless Italian cursing better then this anyway." Sora created a bauble and left in a huff.

"Buck?" Craig smiled.

"Technically that's what you are." Tails shrugged. "It could've been worse. She has every right to get away with 'kitten'." _(Yes, young rabbits are 'kittens'- Brent_)

"You have no idea how creepy that is when someone calls you that."

"Because of animalistic gender naming that humans slapped down on us? Get over it." Tails picked up a remote and buzzed the mini-bot around his ceiling fan.

"What really bugs me about Sora, is that she knows she's smart enough to probably surpass Trask in schoolwork, but she doesn't give a banana peel about even making passing grades." Craig mumbled reshelving the books he had taken out. "You don't think she's afraid of failure do you?"

"Kinda obvious. She's had it shoved down her throat most of her life that she was garbage." Tails managed to land the mini-bot on a fan blade and watched as it spun around.

"So wouldn't that provide some sorta drive for her to do decent?"

"Why? Nobody she wants to prove it to would even acknowledge any accomplishment she's made, she already thinks she controls the Earth's gravitational field, and we know that she isn't all that bad once she calms down."

"It's just...ya know the standards...she's teetering on getting kicked out of here."

"Sora?" Tails laughed a bit flying the mini-bot perfectly back to it's former spot on the desk. "Even if they did expel her, she'd just hang around here for kicks. God help anyone who tells her to leave."

"I know, but you're graduating in a few months, and if they axe her, I'll be alone with...Zen, Gil, and Cume." Craig shuddered. "My IQ will drop to a record low."

"Then you'll be expelled and can wonder the region as a starving mercenary gradually getting pulled into international government conspiracies. You already have enough practice."

"You're a riot Prower." Craig frowned.

* * *

Everything had slowly piled up on Brent's head.

It wasn't bad enough that Salah had a temporary relapse, or a war was starting, the stupid homework he'd assigned to get the kids off his back was starting to gnaw on his brain. The gigantic pile laid on the small desk in his dorm growing steadily larger and larger...

And here he was sparring with Sharpear instead of doing anything useful.

Ah, who the hell cared?

"What I don't get..." Sharpear flung his staff forward only to be parried. "Is why the pay is so low. 20 million bucks minus the cost of what's it gonna take to maintain a small camp, plus everyone's salary doesn't add up too well. And the Captain was making such a big deal about it."

"What makes you think you can fight and talk at the same time?" Brent flipped the staff back and paced off.

"All I'm saying is that it's lousy pay." Sharpear blocked an easy Heavy Swing.

"Focus damnit. It's too easy." Brent mumbled.

"Look, Karastil was doing the whole 'revolt' thing to scratch up some extra cash, but we're not seeing a dime of..." The dog stopped mid-sentence to block another swing. "Okay, when are you gonna realize that I can block everything you thhrff!" Brent decked him in the face while he was focused on the staff.

The canine barely budged an inch.

"You are so dead." Sharpear kicked the cat clear across the ring before he had a chance to draw his paw back.

Slamming into the dirt, Brent struggled back up and leaped for the Ka Staff which had landed a yard or so away from him.

"Should've tried these things." Sharpear held a paw up to show off a blue glove. "Magnetized gloves. Just powerful enough to have the staff stick to your hands and not anything else. Nifty 'eh?"

"You idiot, you just gave away your stinkin' strategy." Brent smirked, picked up his staff, and walked back the length of it.

"I could swipe at you all day, and that stupid thing sticking to your hand couldn't even touch me as long as I stay this distance."

"I can take them off." Sharpear tried pulling at the gloves. Seeing his chance, Brent dove for the staff in the dog's hands snatching it, and dropping his own in the process.

"Didn't really work did it?" Sharpear picked up the fallen staff.

"Give that back!"

"You first."

The two tried to stare each other down to no success.

"We look like total idiots don't we?" Brent didn't remove the 'cold' look from his face.

"I know." Sharpear didn't move either.

"Call it a tie?"

"Sure."

"Great...that means you can stop pointing that staff menacingly at me now." Brent backed up.

"We can callit a tie, but that won't stop me from bashing your head in. Never punch me again."

"Deal." Brent nodded nervously as the staff came down.

* * *

Axen walked down the hallway apparently mumbling to himself, but as you should know by now, mysterious voices always get the better of everybody at the Academy.

"...Biggest load of crap I've ever heard Ax. And I've heard a lot." It was unmistakably Michael's voice but it was impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from. Axen didn't care, he knew that if Mike so much as took one step out of place, he could find him.

"Biggest load of crap?" Axen chuckled. "You don't remember the briefing for Cadu? Remember? 'Last battle we'd ever have...'"

"Point taken." The voice conceded. "You really don't think those guys are gonna spring for a low salary like that do you?"

"They aren't so free with the money anymore. Believe it or not, that was the highest price we could get. I was just told to flaunt it."

"Listen..." The voice took on a more serious note. "You don't have to bow down and kiss Karastil's footpaws. You could topple him right over if you wanted to. You have enough influence to get 'em to cover this place in cream cheese if you wanted."

"He's got something Mike. Something that's been hanging over my head for a long time."

"Mind sharing?"

"I can't. Part of the deal." Axen stopped walking. "40 steps behind..." He said out of nowhere, not turning around to see behind him.

"Wrong." If the speaker could be seen he would've been smiling. "42."

"Huddled in a corner..."

"Shadow of the lockers." The voice almost apologized.

"How the hell can you hide in a 14 inch shadow!"

"Suck in your gut." The speaker cackled.

"I walked into that one." Axen sighed.

"...Hey Axen...you ever feel like you just can't get away from all this? It's been shadowing me for the past 33 years." The voice started to break. "I couldn't even save her Ax."

"We all tried Mike. How do you think I feel about it!...Well that was familiar. How many times have we had that conversation?"

"We're getting older and it's still following us. You can try to cover memories up with good times...but the pain is more prevalent as you start reflecting." The voice laughed a small bit. "This advice bought to you by your local psychologist, Dr. Michael Banelan...anyway...I just think we've reached the end of it. You can't do anything about him, I have to hold Mason by the collar before he rips into him and the Alternate's afraid of him."

"You know who that leaves right?"

"I can't believe we're leaving the fate of 75,000 people to a few kids."

"75? Mike, this is about the region not just us...and if you want to expand into that..."

"I know. The world. But that's dumb. I'll stick with the 75,000. I'm not gonna go into a 'Save the world' phase. Besides I do my part. I recycle."

"You _really_ need to find some new material Banelan." Axen rolled his eyes.

"Listen Ax. I don't know what Karastil's got on you, but you can't let it beat you."

"I'll take it to heart Mike." Axen heard a bauble form behind him and vanish.

Except it's been beating me for three years straight... He put a paw up to his head.

* * *

Back in the MedCenter, as she had never checked out just left to see the speech, Salah sat on a cot reading through a thick manila folder.

A fail-safe has been planned. Immediately proceeding a relapse of rational thought, we have created what in laymen's terms can be called a 'shut-off valve' which cuts off the stimulants to the brain. However, this has also been known to affect the blood flow to the brain. A potentially fatal situation might occur. It is also wise to note that as of this date, there is no effective control of this 'shut-off valve'. Since there is no way to control the body directly, it might act totally random. Proceed with caution on any future experiments

Meora K. Eterna

"You never finished it did you?" Salah directed her mumbling at the sheet of paper. "You were just afraid you might kill somebody by accident. You never picked up a staff after graduation, you never went into any conflict, you just never hurt anybody did you?" She snapped the folder shut and threw it to the ground scattering papers everywhere. "Thanks for being so self-righteous, you've made my life a living hell!"

"Uh..." Brent was standing in the doorway. "I'm just going to walk...out...of...here before..." He sighed. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"...If you think I'm so much as gonna shed one tear over her again..." Salah paused and exhaled. "...I mean...thanks for caring. It's just a tough act to follow." She allowed herself a small grin. "Here she was, the perfect one, and here I am, the hitman of some scungy old fox."

"Scungy? You mean scrungy?"

"Who cares? It had the same effect."

"Listen, if your dad can't do it you should take Karastil on."

"It's not up to me anymore. He'd know before I moved a muscle and it would be the exact same thing as 3 years ago."

"I'm not doing it. He has my parent's paycheck in his paws. I don't think they'd be too pleased to find themselves living without any income."

"That's hardly a good reason. Take him down and the money matters are ours again."

Brent gritted his teeth. "It's other things too Salah. He has...well let's just say a large weight dangling over our heads."

"Our heads? Your not involved."

"Partial treatment." Brent scratched the back of his head. "And all I can do is make a cool whooshing noise when I spin the staff."

"If it's not you, that only leaves one more option." Salah picked up the mess of research and reorganized it. "And it's not exactly ideal."

"Have you ever considered that old tongue twister with the woodchuck chucking wood and all that crap? You realize that he'd be throwing up the wood, meaning he'd have to eat it first. In other words, the question is how much wood could a woodchuck eat before vomiting?" Tails scratched an ear with a claw.

"Shut up, I can't hear Zatochi." Sora mumbled.

"It's subtitled Sora." Craig pointed out.

"All of this is the same thing." Sora squinted. "Someone sneaks up behind him, he senses them and then fights them in a badly choreographed sequence.

"That's the point of it. What else is a blind swordsman gonna do?" Tails moved to scratch his headfur. "Ahhh! Sora! When was the last time you had a flea bath!"

"Shut up." Sora turned beet red thwacking his face with a paw.

"Yeow!" Craig leaped up. "He's not kidding!" The rabbit bent an ear down and nibbled furiously on it.

In the end 'ideal' was how you defined it. But anyone walking in on this scene and seeing two boys twisting around in eternal itch while a vixen kept hitting them in the stomachs would be inclined to agree with her.

* * *

RETROSPECTIVE

Now with a border that the Document Manager doesn't delete

* * *

Rather jumpy in parts this time ain't it? Alright, Mason needed to use that sword for something. It's been at his side for nearly a hundred pages.

20million is not really enough to cover a full-scale military operation. They should be getting a better deal then this for invading a stinking' country.

Whitman is a jerk but his imagery is fantastic, and don't knock _Alice Through the Looking Glass_. It is the epitome of rational absurdity.

As one final disjointed note to end this not really much of a Retrospective, Retrospective, Zatochi does get really old after a hour or so. How many times are they gonna push the fact that he's blind, and he's really really good with a sword?

(I guess that just goes to show I'm a Samurai Trilogy fanatic. Musashi could kick his butt any day.)

I will never understand potpourri


	22. Morals, Violent CRPGS, and Symbolism

Breakfast was always the most dangerous time of the day at the Academy. Three familiar figures walked down the hall to the cafeteria weaving in and out of half-asleep students who would've had no qualms whatsoever about knocking you over, trampling you and leaving you for the buzzards.

Actually the anthropomorphic buzzards at the Academy were fairly nice and would always stop to help you back up again, just in time to get flattened again by another passerby.

"I still can't believe you locked us in the meat locker." Craig sneezed spectacularly. "The freakin' meat locker!"

"Hey the fleas didn't survive." Sora shrugged.

"Neither did my immune system." Tails sniffed and thought for a second. "How come flea collars don't come in hats? I wouldn't mind wearing a flea hat."

Once again the weekend had rolled by, nothing to do but ponder the meaning of existence. Of course even this gets old after a while and Tails had spent a great many hours thinking about the meaning of _non_-existence. Why wasn't there an F-13 key or oxygen repellent, or better yet, an actual place on Earth that made perfectly logical sense.

The whole thing left Sora and Craig with the impression that they'd been talking to ceiling spackle for the last two days.

"Flea hat?" Sora turned around to face him.

"What?"

"Flea hat."

"Yeah, so I said 'flea hat' so what?"

"You have officially scraped what's left of your brain cells onto that bagel you had last night. Flea hat! How stupid can you get!"

"Why? Rather have a collar?"

"No, that's not the point, it's..." Sora shook her head violently. "Well never mind what the point is. The phrase "flea hat" just sounds like you've finally lost it."

"Trust me, you'll know when I lost it. It'll involve a lot more sharp objects." Tails winked.

"That's a riot."

"You two both lost it a long time ago." Craig sneezed again. "I think we've got other things to worry about. Specifically that stupid Battle Royale."

Sora and Tails groaned.

"The last thing I wanna do is even devote a fourth of a brain cell to that." Sora mumbled. "They even spelled it with an 'e', how sad can you get? I hate silent vowels."

"You hate everything don't you?" Tails rolled his eyes.

"And you've just figured this out now?"

"Do you realize we're all gonna be fighting each other?" Craig snapped them back to the subject. "It's a guaranteed mess. Hell, Gil will probably hide out half the time, come out when everyone's exhausted and take the whole thing."

"They can't seriously pass only one person can they?" Tails raised an eyebrow.

"Stop doing that!" Sora thwacked him in the head with her paw. "If I see that eyebrow go up one more time this weekend, I will remove your retinas and...and...ARGHH! Now look what ya done you freak! I'm out of insults!"

"The idea behind the whole thing is that first place gets a cash prize." Craig smiled. "On top of that, it's a guaranteed spot in Guard Wing, high consideration for Chief, and it looks awesome on your transfer to Advance."

"So it's a big deal then?" Tails nodded.

"Huge."

"How's it work? Last person standing?"

"Nope, they watch ya the whole time. Style, speed, that sorta thing. Most of the time no one 'wins' at all considering everything has to be picture perfect. Only one guy's won in a time span of nearly 30 years."

"Holy crap, who was that?" Sora's interest perked up.

Craig smiled.

"His first name's actually Howler."

"Howler? Who would be that cruel to name their kid Howler?" Tails laughed a bit.

"Two beatniks who wanted something different." Mason walked passed them appearing out of nowhere as usual.

"You're kidding. Your name's actually Howl---"

"You ever done a live organ transplant, kid?" Mason lifted his broadsword with a paw and slowly moved the point close to Tails' chest.

"You ever had your head removed faster then than your mind can process pain?" Tails moved his training staff under the sword to match up perfectly with the squirrel's neck.

A whirl and a flash interrupted them. Both turned around to see Sora holding a disposable camera in hand. "Well, it was hardly a Kodak moment...but it was really awesome." She shrugged.

"What the hell are you?" Mason turned to face Tails again. "Most of the wimps here would be drenched in sweat right now."

"It boils down to two theories. Either I'm wearing anti-perspiring deodorant, or I really don't find you that intimidating." Tails looked completely serious. "Actually, both are true right now."

"Trade-off weapons for a moment." Mason held out the sword flat in his palms.

Tails handed him the lightweight staff and received what felt like a large flat cone shaped piece of extremely heavy metal, which of course it was.

"Not exactly...quick." Tails smiled and nearly fell forward trying to lift the sword.

"This is." Mason spun the staff at a furious pace in one paw, switched to the other without pausing and continued to toss it paw to paw, the staff never stopping once. "I told you, you'd never find out why I switched to the sword, and you'd probably never believe me if I did. Actually I'm not half bad with these twigs." He kicked a footpaw up, hitting the staff, never missing a single beat.

"So you can juggle a tad." Sora's face grew impatient. "You're still pretty washed..."

Without warning the staff nicked a small tuff of her headfur. She watched as it floated down, and was divided into countless microbes as the staff kept spinning.

"...So help me God, you are the absolute coolest person I have ever met." She thought for a moment. "Well, outside of that one guy that can eat his own leg and regurgitate it. But still cool nonetheless."

"She has a point." Tails looked on, although not seeming that impressed. "But you know what?"

"What?" Mason asked, the staff going a nearly infinite number of rounds.

"I've seen things move, a lot, lot faster." Tails smirked. The broadsword immediately came up and snacked the staff in two, in midair. "It wasn't that hard to lift." Tails dropped the weapon with a loud 'karrang' to the ground. "Just a matter of shifting your weight and adding a little muscle behind it."

Craig stared wide-eyed at the entire spectacle. "If you can do that (loud sneeze) and I hang around you most of the (sniff) time, why am I still getting C's on my performance record!"

"Maybe it's because you suck." Sora offered brightly.

"I can still sneeze in your face, give you a deadly disease and watch you drop dead.." Craig mumbled and sniffed again.

"You know what? Not half bad." Mason shook his head as Tails handed him back the sword. "Just one tiny problem."

"What?"

"You just sliced your own staff up. I'm not paying for this one." The squirrel quickly created a bauble and left.

"Hm.." Tails looked down at the ruined twists of metal. "I wish I didn't do that."

Another quick snap and flash turned him around again.

"Oh come on." Sora turned the camera's counter wheel. "The look of utter disappointment on your face was too good to pass up."

* * *

"He's got some reflexes, that's for sure." Mason stepped out of the bauble into one of the dozens of blank, empty offices dotting the lower levels of the Academy. "Could use a bit of work in being a tad less predictable. He shifted his weight too much on that last swing. Otherwise everything played out exactly the way Mike said it would."

"Still got it." Michael elbowed Axen hard in the ribs. "You owe me twenty bucks."

Axen sat down in a hard chair right behind a dusty, bare but ornate desk. "You'll get it by the end of the day. We still got a matter to deal with here."

"We got our proof that he's the best one to take Karastil on right? He doesn't have any ties to the NFE, the Ta'Ka, the Alternate, nothing. That kit is the ultimate blank slate we're going to need."

"He's right." Brent, who had steadily clawing at the wall joined in. "We could all take that bastard on and win, the problem is what he could do. Tails doesn't have to give a Polish sausage about that."

"Could he really do it?" Juro was sitting by the door. "Karastil I mean. Wasn't it hard enough to drug her the first time?"

"He wouldn't have to. You'd be amazed where you can hide hypodermic needles containing a fatal genetic code." Michael smirked a bit. "That sounds really odd when I say it outloud."

The five gathered in the room gave out an almost collective sigh of frustration.

"It wouldn't matter if we disabled him, removed him, killed him whatever. He'd get it done someway." Brent started to scratch more furiously at the wall. "It makes me sick. You can do anything with a dollar bill these days."

"Can't we inject something that would cancel the fail-safe? A counterbalance?" Mason tried.

Axen shook his head. "May made sure there would never be a cure, and she's the only one that knew the experiment by heart...well except for Salah, but it'd be a very poor decision to tell her at this point."

"She'd go all 'martyr' on us." Brent scoffed. "Forget it."

"What about Vale?" Mason started to pace.

"Karastil's little lap dog? Forget it." Juro looked down.

"That's it then. We're just gonna let Karastil have his way!" Michael slammed the antique desk with a clenched paw. "I've seen what happens when you do, and..."

"Burlap." Brent said in what seemed to be almost completely randomtivity.

"Thanks." Michael took a deep breath. "Sorry, went off the deep end again."

"What was--" Mason started.

"Don't worry about it." Juro interrupted him. "As far as I'm concerned, you'll never understand those two. Trust me."

Axen meanwhile still had his head in his paws trying to solve the problem at hand.

"We're still in a rut." He sighed. "We can't move because he could kill one person, and if we don't move a lot more people are going to die."

"...I know I'm probably opening a oil tanker of worms here but..." Brent gritted his teeth nervously. "What about Slak?"

"We're going to entrust my daughter's life to a bomb-making rat?" Axen looked at him as if he were drenched in sewage water.

"It's a long shot but...he's really the only remaining person that knows the NFE operation." Brent shrugged. "And chances are, he could cancel the fail-safe."

"I'm all for it." Michael yawned. "Besides, shouldn't it be time you got back to your troops?"

"Yeah." Axen mumbled. "...Orders are to move into Rihiemer's Pass tomorrow."

"Narrow place." Michael's face went blank.

"And the best chance we can possibly have at beating the enemy. They can't move any artillery in, and the infantry would have to go light."

"A little too convenient isn't it?" Mason smirked.

"Not complaining." Axen shrugged and created a bauble. "See what you can do with Slak and contact me when something shows up."

Brent nodded as Axen stepped into the sphere and vanished.

"And in the wake of that," Juro got up and cracked his back. "We've also got to disappear. Still not welcome here."

"Gotcha." Mason created a bauble. "Hey Crayshen..."

"Will you please just use my first name!"

"No." Mason turned towards him. "Listen to me, that kit has a lot of potential, and I mean a lot. You're not even on the same level as him, let alone qualified to teach him."

"Don't think you're gonna. I wouldn't trust you if I could eat your weight in apple fritters!"

"Wait, was that supposed to be an insu-"

"YES!" Brent yelled at him.

"I'm not saying, I would be the one to teach him. Hand the reigns to Mike." Mason jerked a paw towards the wolf.

"And did you even bother asking me?" Michael took the chair Axen was sitting in and spun it around. "Not interested."

Juro sighed and stepped through the bauble, just wishing the day would be over.

"For the love of tree bark, why not?" Mason was flustered. "You know you're better then him." He gestured towards Brent.

"Thanks." Brent rolled his eyes.

Michael stopped the chair and leaned forward onto the desk, staring directly at the squirrel with a perfect stone face.

"I spent the better of 4 years training two cats who couldn't even spin a staff without poking their eyes out. They couldn't agree on anything and had constant problems. If Brent got a hang of the Heavy Swing, Salah would still be confused on the Mirage. If she could get the 'jumping' pattern down, Brent would stumble along in horrible rhythm. Day after miserable day, I worked with those two until they had learned every last tech in the book and written part of it themselves. Crayshen may not be the world's most advanced Ka Master, but he knows what he's talking about, and I hope, he can pass it on the same way."

"That's just the point, he can't!" Mason held his paws out.

"Too bad." Mike created a new bauble to replace the old one which had collapsed in his little spew. "Go on, I'll see you back at the hotel."

"Trust me, I'll have a few things to say." Mason stepped through.

"Wow. Thanks. That was a boost to my ego." Brent smirked.

"Mason could do it about 20 times better." Michael crushed his spirits in one blow. "But he's not the one that chose an apprentice. I got mine randomly and still have to stick with you two to make sure you don't kill yourselves. If you get the right to select yours, then you're stuck with the kid, got it?"

"Uh, sure." The cat scratched the back of his head. "Just got one question."

"Shoot."

"Why are you sticking your neck out for Salah? I mean I know you don't like us very much..."

"No, I don't like you very much." Michael half-smirked.

"You don't have to be that evil."

"Just kiddin, I never said I hated you guys. Just consider me a tad disappointed."

"You tried to kill me in a secluded hallway." Brent reminded him.

"Okay, really disappointed. But you're going back on the right track. As for Salah...She may be a brat, but she's also the daughter of my two best friends. Wouldn't be right just to watch her die ya know."

"I just thought...you know...that you blamed her for..."

"I don't. I blame Karastil. He never cared who he stepped on to get his way. Speaking of which, he won't have any qualms about stepping on you. Keep your head up and watch out." Michael stepped into the bauble vanishing.

Now alone, Brent looked around the deserted office.

"That was a tad unsettling." He said to himself for some form of comfort.

* * *

"The Ka Staff is made with a blend of lightweight metals, designed so that it would be easy to carry, and the weight would shift on impact thus making it the perfect melee weapon of the 20th and 21st centuries." Ketwen squinted reading his notes off in a monotone voice.

"After the Terriene conflict..."

Sora looked up, her head jerking up again as she fought claw and fang against the lecture's overwhelming invitation to sleep.

Trying desperately to keep her eyes focused on something, she started to pen down a few words in her notebook, totally lost it, and started doodling plans to conquer the western hemisphere.

Meanwhile, a few rows back, Craig was leafing through a recently written textbook, hooked an article that was much more interesting than Ketwen, and one that he knew they'd never get to in the semester.

Tails was actually writing something down.

Unfortunately for Ketwen and his lecture, it was a serious critique on both of them, and for no apparent reason, the second half of Tails' paper was a review of _David Copperfield_.

That review was very short. It went as such:

Read until he grows up. David's unhappy childhood is a complete joy. However, once Dickens gets in to Mr Copperfield's unhappy adulthood, you may as well forget to read the rest, besides it saves you the trouble of meeting his future wife Dora, who you will come to hate and despise almost as much as the villain, because for most of the book until her death, (After which the book picked up again) she did nothing but whine.

In actuality no one in the class was doing any work at all, not the students or Ketwen, who had used the same notes since 1985.

Therefore no one really noticed, or cared when Sora finally slammed her head down, fast asleep and crashed the desk to the floor.

They also never noticed (or cared) when Craig came across a photo in the back of the textbook, featuring Michael, Axen and who he assumed to be Meora walking down what seemed to be a random hallway. For some reason the image was very familiar.

And they never noticed, cared, or really got very excited about Tails' sudden realization that thinking too much about the nature of the universe might cause it to explode and leave behind a very large philosophical mess that would be a nightmare to clean-up.

But they certainly noticed, cared and generally were all very excited when Ketwen finally woke up, realized what he was doing, threw the notebook in the trash and started to talk about his experiences in Guard Wing.

That is, everyone except three certain young animals that had just recognized a middle age wolf outside the door, smiling at them.

* * *

"I owe ya own for that." Sora rubbed her eyebrows and yawned. "Seriously, I couldn't take another second."

"Of the lecture or the war stories?" Craig shuddered.

"Of that desk. Do you know what it's like to fall asleep like that? Even my fangs hurt."

"Don't mind Ketwen, he's been nothing but a standard flunky for the past 3 decades I've known him. Too bad, he was a Guard Wing Chief when I entered." Michael shrugged. "But I'm not worried about the puppets, just the one holding the strings. Listen to me. Lay low for a while. No investigating, no heroic moments, no special distinctions. Fade into the background as much as possible. Karastil's gonna come down hard on this place soon, and if he finds out you've been prowling into his business..."

"He'll what?" Sora laughed. "Try to fight us? We already won remember?"

"No." Michael's face was blank. "He'll kill you, plain and simple. He's far past just using staffs and if you three are in the spotlight..."

"So what?" Tails finally perped up. "He kills us, then what? He'll have several hundred people and organizations in this country breathing down his back."

"I'm not kidding. He's on to us, do you understand? He knows about you guys and he's getting sick of you fast."

"On to us? Over what, researching a stupid project?" Craig smirked.

"...One of you will have to kill him." Michael sighed, leaving it out in the open.

The three stared blankly back at the wolf.

"Maybe the word 'kill' was too harsh. Incapacitate will work better. Yeah, that's it incapacitate."

"Wait...what?" Tails fell against the closed door to the classroom. "WHAT!"

"I won't say another word." Michael raised his paws up. "But you need to keep everything under wr-"

"You're the one who said life was valuable. Now you're telling us to kill someone over a stupid vendetta!" Tails looked up at him.

"I told you, the word 'kill' was too harsh."

"Why?" Tails asked quietly. His voice had a hint of something it hardly ever had.

Terror.

"Not gonna say. It could get you killed." Michael shook his head.

"Right, and you need to keep us alive to do your dirty work right?" Sora advanced on the wolf.

"I can't. He would know. He's holding a weight above my head okay? Something that would be very very bad to a certain person."

"What?" Craig asked, fire building up in his usually calm eyes.

"The less you know, the better your chances are. He sees you as a potential threat, not a literal one. Just keep things quiet and when the time comes we'll tell you when to move."

"We'll move when we damn well please. We'll NOT move when we damn well please. Why should we?" Tails stood up and looked at Michael, a coldness descending over both of them.

"You have no idea who Karastil is do you?" Mike's voice had suddenly changed as if all the life behind it had been sucked out. "You haven't seen the same things I have kid. You haven't done the things under his orders I did. Get this straight. I sinned. I never want anything like that to be repeated again."

"Okay, uh...can we...think about this?" Sora looked from Tails back to Michael slightly frightened.

"Fair enough." Michael's voice instantly perked back up. "You kids look like you haven't had a decent meal in months. I'll bauble ya out for lunch."

"Lunch? You tell us we're going to fight without a choice and then you offer lunch!" Tails face went into shock. "You're...you're..."

"Very nice." Craig smiled and turned to Tails. "C'mon man, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Besides think of it. We can eat something without vomiting directly afterwards."

"Wow, luxury..." Tails tapped his chin, also regaining his sense of humor. "Okay, you're on as soon as class is ov-"

"I'm not stepping back in there." Sora backed up. "Besides, Ketwen-Ka never assigns homework anyway."

"I don't want to miss anything!" Tails reached for the doorknob. "Besides what if we miss something important?" He opened the door.

"Remember, that will be on the final." They heard Ketwen drone out.

"Wow." Sora's eyebrows went up in surprise. "We...missed something important...I was expecting something ironic."

"We don't get the benefit of cliche irony Sora." Craig patted her on the back. "Only the kind that reaches up and bites you in the tail."

"What tail? You have a cottonball sticking out of your butt." Tails laughed.

"Wait, wait. You're making fun of MY tail? You have like two...of...them."

"Yeah, I know that. What's wrong? Can't think of anything?"

"No." Craig hung his head.

"Maybe you should just get back into class." Michael put his head in his paw.

* * *

"You know, for having absolutely no blood at all, this might be the goriest game I ever seen." Brent looked shocked.

"What are you talking about? It's almost all text, you just attack and..." Salah hit a button.

Salah hammers the Giant Rat with the empty pistol for 48 damage, reducing it to a thin red paste.

"Ew, I see your point." Her paws flew back. "I think I need to wash the keyboard now."

Despite the tight budget, the Ta'Ka had finally heard the resident Masters complaints about the Amiga, and promised to add a new computer to the collection in the Rec Room.

Unfortunately, all they got was an Apple IIe.

While not up to date and actually several steps back from the Amiga, it was still technically "new". Of course Brent and Salah weren't complaining as it meant two things. Wasteland and more Infocom games.

"More Zork?" Brent offered holding up the floppy.

"Put in Hitchhiker's. Today, I figure out that Babel Fish puzzle or...get eaten by a gru." Salah nodded determined.

"That's it. You two are officially dorks." Tyson sighed from the couch. "I've tried, I really have but no, you two are happier back in the days before you were born. Can that thing at least run a Chessmaster game? Salah could practice."

"I already tried." Salah stuck her tongue out. "It...beat me..."

"I think Kura has a little Java chess game on her cell phone." Brent offered.

"It beat me."

"You lost to a cell phone?"

"Yes, I lost to a cell phone. Put the disk in now." Salah narrowed her eyes. "Look you're not so hot at chess yourself."

"But I'm decent at Go and some forms of international checkers, which still makes me better then you." Brent smiled and patted her on the head.

Salah ripped his paw off.

Well not, _literally_ off, but Brent could tell that's roughly what the pain he was experiencing right now would be equivalent to.

He was still screaming when Stanson walked in.

Trying his hardest to close his mouth and salute Brent turned around, his face a mix of agony...and more agony.

"Um..." The elk cleared his throat as the other residential Masters flew up in salute. "I was just going to ask if anyone would mind taking on any extra classes. There's a--" He stopped as he saw the blank stares surrounding him.

"Maybe I'll just talk to Gabe about this." He started to walk out.

"Add an extra fifty percent to my paycheck and you got it." Salah looked at him.

"Er...we really can't afford..."

"You know those gray furred jerks would demand the same." Salah folded her arms. "And if you're going to pay it anyway, you might as well get what you pay for."

"Miss Eterna, as of late you've acquired a certain arrogance about you..."

"As of LATE!" The entire room broke into chorus.

"...Which does not reflect your more admirable qualities to the Ta'Ka. I believe that's your final goal correct?"

Salah grunted and looked angrily at the floor.

The floor amazingly, did not seem to care. It had more then it's fair share of agitated stares over the years and had devolved a stoic attitude about the whole mess. Later, it would try it's hardest to trip the offender which was extremely difficult given the fact that it was an inanimate object that had no thought process whatsoever and couldn't recognize who the angry person was. It just ended up tripping everybody sooner or later.

Everyone blamed it on the ancient carpeting.

"That's what I thought." Stanson allowed himself a slight smirk in victory. It was a rare occasion that anyone got the last word in with Salah.

"What'd you think?" She looked up as he walked away. "That my "dangerous" ambition is aiming for your chair? My ambition is deadly, not just dangerous. By the time I'm finished here, their won't be any ineffective council, there'll be me and whoever I want there to be."

"20 bonus, you'll switch every other day with Gabe." Stanson smiled again. "Sorry, I'm not Roddis. I don't collapse at the first sign of a threat. Good luck to you on that." He finally left the room.

"Wow." Slak broke the silence that came afterwards. "We ladies and gentlemen have an official that has...sense."

"My entire life has just imploded now. What am I supposed to make fun of if people suddenly become smart?" Brent looked down at the floor in self pity.

It offered no comfort.

And everything continued...

Except for an otter sitting on the couch.

For the first time in his life, Tyson took what Salah said and listened to it, and then he shivered slightly.

It wasn't a threat. Tyson knew when the Snobgirl got her mind set, it was set.

In almost every way, she had the same goals as Karastil.

God, help us all. He talked within his own mind, giving a silent voice to his thoughts. _Unlike Karastil, she can actually pull it off._

He talked within his own mind, giving a silent voice to his thoughts. _

* * *

_

"Ready, and...spin!" Tails yelled out as two staffs spun in a perfect circle, in perfect harmony, making a perfect slight swish.

It was perfect...until Sora's staff spun out of her paws and perfectly clobbered her in the head.

"You can't even make an arc?" Tails sighed. He had tried everything he possibly could to get Sora's techs up to level. Battle patterns, Gil thomping, trying to hold the staff without dropping it, and so far the only thing she managed to do was keep a hold of the staff...for about 2 minutes at a time.

"Look, I really appreciate what you're trying to do, but I'm not helpless." Sora shook her head.

"According to your grades, and 3 hours of this you are." Tails yawned.

"What am I here for?" Craig looked around nervously. "I'm not failing."

"You could use the practice." Tails rolled his eyes. "Okay...ready and..."

"This isn't fair! You don't even have a staff with you!" Sora yelled at him. "Why are you exempt from this?"

"It's in pieces down at the Works remember? Along with all my money that I saved up to buy that Eindekker model?"

"Wait, what?" Sora looked at him blankly.

"It's a World War I monoplane. The first one that was really equipped for battle, or at least the first with working sync gear."

Now Sora and Craig had a blank look on their faces.

"Sync gear...it's what stops from shooting your own propeller off..." Tails started. "When a blade gets in front of the gun's muzzle, you can't...fire...it...I READ THIS STUFF OKAY!" He appealed to the two who were by now beyond being politely disinterested. At this point they were downright bored.

"I always found WWI's aviation kinda interesting." Craig threw out almost involuntarily. "Richthofen was pretty cool. Um..."

"Never..." Tails eyes were virtually on fire. "Never mention Richthofen to me again. The Red Baron didn't fly cause he enjoyed it, he flyed because he liked the hunt. Nothing makes me angrier then people who don't see the beauty of flight."

"You're sound like some dead poet that no one reads." Sora shivered a bit. "Can we go in now? It's getting cold."

"You don't get it do you Sora?" Tails refused to surrender the subject. "Look up."

"What?"

"Look at it! We're never gonna figure it out. Science tells us it doesn't even exist, but it's not really a physical thing is it? It's more of a personified aspiration, a dream you live in every single day of your life."

"What is?" Sora still had her muzzle straight in the air.

"THE SKY, SORA!" Tails nearly bowled her over, yelling as loud as he possibly could. "THE FREAKIN' UNEXPLAINABLE BEAUTY THAT YOU'RE TOO MUCH OF A DUMBASS TO SEE!"

"Huh?" Sora looked back down.

Tails' right eye twitched.

"Let's just go back inside." He marched off before he snapped her neck off.

"Geez, what crawled under his eyelid this morning?" Sora looked at Craig.

"I'm going back." The rabbit mumbled coldly. "Stay out here for a while maybe you'll figure it out, SORA."

"What? Figure what out?"

"Nothing, SORA. Just figure it out SORA."

"What? My name?"

"Yes, you're name. What do you think it means?"

"I never really..."

"Sky! You're name means 'sky'!"

"...That's stupid. Maybe I can change it to something like...Toleria, or Niala."

Craig's right eye twitched.

"I'm going back inside." He marched off before he gouged her eyes out.

"There's nothing wrong with Niala...I mean, it's different isn't it?" Sora mumbled to herself as she laid down on the wettening grass. "What the hell is everyone talking about anyway? It's just some sort of stupid layered atmosphere, it's not like..."

For an instant, everything clicked. The sky became a dream, a symbol of triumph and hope and everything she ever wanted.

She barely noticed.

"...It's anything interesting. Maybe if it was like made out of dryer lint or something."

The universe's right eye twitched.

Despite it's best efforts however, it couldn't leave.

---

No Retrospective this time around. It took too long to finish this and now I lost all my deep insights for this chapter. Go figure.


	23. Playing The Part

"You know, the world would be a lot better off if there were more giant mecha ." Tails munched on a peice of soggy toast.

It was 7 A.M. A common hour, but one so completely covered in fuzz, that most of the world denies it exists. The usual three were up eating a pathetic breakfeast of charred pancakes and mangled bread that smelled like it had been dipped in a volcano for twenty minutes too long.

"There wouldn't be a world then." Craig yawned. "There'd just be a large smoking crater where the world was."

"Like it's any better off the way it is?" Sora sighed at her plate. "The only good thing about today is that we aren't stuck with oatmeal."

"You know I've always wondered what it was the servers had against oatmeal. Have you noticed that it's always either inedible or trying to kill us?" Tails looked up..

"Eh, at least they found a better food to ruin." Sora scraped her fork around. "Ergh...today sucks."

"It hasn't even started yet." Tails smirked a bit. "You've still got to fail at training, fail in your classes, and fail in whatever social life you have outside of me and Craig."

"Mkeerpblm." Sora mumbled something utterly inpronnuncable and slipped down in her seat.

"What's wrong? Usually you would've beaten me to death with my own leg by now." Tails looked under the table at her.

"I forgot about Gabriel-Ka's stupid essay. I'm already bordering on a D triple minus. Anything after that and..."

"Wait, I didn't know you had any classes with Gabriel-Ka."

"First Class Remdial. For techniques." Sora almost whispered, bowing her head even lower.

"That's not so bad. I'm in Second Class Remedial for Physics, and that's basic science." Craig also looked under the table, bumping his head.

"Yeah, but you can squeak by and still graduate with that. But for techs? I'm dead meat...no worse, I'm the alive meat that gets fed into the machinery and mixed to make 'pork products.'" Sora pulled her knees up to her chin.

"Sinclair?" Tails looked interested. "Where'd you get a copy of _The Jungle_?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Never mind, just be glad you're in the 21st century."

"What's the essay on?" Craig asked bringing down a peice of crumbling toast to his mouth.

"I don't know. How are you supposed to write an essay on how to swing a staff!"

"Fudge it. You know, First paragraph- I'll write about this. Second paragraph- I'm getting to it. Third- Almost there. Fourth- There. End." Tais listed it off, nearly breaking a fang as he bit into a pancake.

"And you're supposed to be the genius?" Sora gave him a look.

"Hey, I need a break every once in a while." Tails smiled cheesily.

"You're a disgrace to the rag." Sora laughed a bit. "Eh, sorry. I've been hanging around the Wings too long."

"Where are they anyway? I haven't heard a thing since Captain Eterna moved them out to...you know...that place with the name. It ALMOST rhymed with 'orange'." Craig looked confused for a second and then took another bite of toast, the look fading into content.

"That's probably a good thing. The less we have to deal with Karastil or the Captain, the better." Tails yawned and qucikly looked up at the clock. "Alright, I've gotta go in for training." He moved his head back under the table and shook it furiously. "You're the ones that wanted breakfeast. Happy with yourselves? I'm gonna go vommit now."

"Bleh." Sora flattened herself on the floor. "This semester is getting continually worse. I'm even using words like 'continually.' I blame you for all my problems."

"Glad to help." Tails saluted mockingly.

" I hope you choke on flouride." The foxgirl stuck her tounge out.

"You know, only Sora could make that work as a threat." Craig nodded solemnly.

---

"If there's one thing to break the montony of training mercernaires, it's mindless beaurcracy." Salah cracked her paws and picked up a mechnical penci, clicking it a few times.

"You have a werid idea of fun." Kura looked at the wildcat as she dropped a massive pile of seemingly random papers on her desk. "What've we got first?"

"Transfer denials." Salah smirked.

"You're gonna deny all of them?"

"You really are new at this aren't you? No one gets a transfer in the middle of a mission...come to think of it, no one really gets a transfer ever."

"What the beans is the Request ID?" Kura looked over a sheet.

"Beats me. I like to draw pirates in that box."

"It's barely two inches."

"I draw small." Salah clicked her pencil a few more times.

"Uh, your lead is..."

"The length of a corndog I know. Today you learn your most important lesson about paperwork. No one cares." Salah shoved her papers off her desk where they crashed with a half-splat, half swish.

"But what about the people that actually _made _transfers?" Kura looked over the wreckage.

"If only 20 of them actually get 'em, then we only need 20 of the paperwork."

"Aren't you supposed to be the one aiming for the Ta'Ka? I don't think..."

"Sorry, she's right." Stanson walked by with a load of paper, leveled most of it off into the trashcan, and walked away with barely anything left.

Kura stared open mouthed for a second. "So what actually gets done around here?"

"You know how the only thing we have for cereal is a box of Christmas Rice Krispies from 1992?"

"Yeah."

"This is why."

"Wait, there's paperwork to go out and get grocries!"

"There's paperwork for everything dear mousie. Look here's yours! A raise? Forget it!" Salah happily slapped down a "Rejected" stamp on the paper.

"I really wanted that..."

"And here's MY request! No way!" Salah slammed the stamp down again.

"Are you okay? I mean you are acting a little...Brent-like."

"I'm perfectly happy. So what if I've got a couple extra classes to teach this week? So what if I'm stuck here doing paperwork, not hearing a word from pops while he's out there trying to fight a modern army! I'm so FREAKIN' NORMAL!" The wildcat slammed her head straight onto the inkpad.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm fine." Salah raised a paw without lifiting her head up from the desk. "Perfectly fine."

"You don't need to worry about it. Your Dad's a great Captain. He's just probably got his hands full right now."

"I know." Salah still didn't move her head.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't figure it out. I either wanna bawl my eyes out, or go into hysteric uncurable laughter."

"You lead an interesting life Salah." Kura shrugged and turned back to the paperwork. "Wait a sec, if the moon ever explodes in a freak accident, what's going to happen to the surfing insudtry?"

"Yeah and I'm the one with the interesting life." Salah picked up her pencil, broke off the lead to a reasonable amount, and started writing.

---

"Shouldn't we be, I don't know training?" Tails was hugging he knees, sitting under a tree.

"What's the point? You'd do it perfectly anyway, and if we try anything, some stupid off screen voice is gonna stop us." Brent lay on the grass, eyes closed.

"I know, but I wanna hear this week's plot twist." Tails smiled to himself. "I swear, my life is like a freakin' Buck Rogers serial."

"The crossover with Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, the crappy 70's TV show Buck Rogers, or the politcal thriller in space Buck Rogers?" Brent titled his head towards him.

Tails whistled. "And here I am thinking only I cared."

"I go for political thriller in space myself."

"Wait, isn't that the one TSR made into a tabletop RPG?"

"Shut up, I don't play those anymore." Brent started to sound nervous. "I don't care how many character sheets I have, you can't prove anything."

"I won't touch that with a cattle prod." Tails looked frightened. "Hate to drag you back to reality..."

"Better men then you have tried."

"...But where do you fit in the whole thing? I mean, you don't really have the boosted DNA..."

"I got something that's for sure." Brent sat up. "The retroviruses they gave me didn't have enough of a boost to really do anything, at least I don't think so...but...how do I explain this? Sometimes, everyone just seems _weak_. Like you can actually feel how weak they are, how superior you must be...and other times you get these thoughts in your head. They're not pretty. Anyway, thoughts lead to daydreams, daydreams lead to nightmares and before you know it, you can't get them out of your head." Brent stared into nothing for a second. "But for some reason, they did just go away, and now all my brain is left with are a couple Monty Python sketches, and the theme from the Great Escape."

Tails looked at him for a second. "You know, you're just plain weird."

"And you're a teenage two tailed mechanical genius fox who can fly. Yeah. I am weird." Brent flopped back down on the grass. "And right on cue..."

A bauble emerged from nowhere, Mike stepping out.

"So what's the depressing revelation?" Tails offered happily.

"Blow it out the first avaliable orfice. I'm not in the mood." The wolf growled back at the two.

"Ow. What's the level of angst this time?" The fox winced

"Shut up and tell me where Tyson is."

"The riverdog said he was probably gonna help Salah with some of the paperwork. Why?" Brent looked up.

"Get your fuzzy butt moving NOW!" Micahel bolted off.

"Yeah, something's up." Brent got up quickly. "What about you?"

"Nothing better to do." Tails shrugged.

---

"And here's one for all the times they said my armor looked stupid." Salah smacked the stamp down again. "And another for telling me I smelt like my sandbox...and another for..."

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE NOW!" Michael burst in suddenly.

"Um, hi. I realize the girl's gone crazy but..." Kura waved at him a little shyly.

Michael ignored her. "Salah, you've got to get out of the Academy. The region if you can. Axen's pulled out."

"Really?" Salah cheered up considerablly. "Mike, that's the best news I heard all--"

"Against Karastil's orders."

"So what? I'm glad he's finally standing up for himself." Salah got out of the chair. "I'm gonna bauble into..."

"HE'S GONNA KILL YOU!"

"What?" Salah looked at him.

"What?" Brent and Tails entered shortly after.

"Axen pulled out, Karastil's dropping the weight. He's going to try and kill outright kill you."

"What about the injection?" Brent suddenly looked geniunely scared. "I mean he's not going to kill her in cold blood..."

"Yes he is. He doesn't need to sneak around anymore."

"What the hell is going on!" Salah stopped them both.

"You were the wildcard." Michael looked at her.

"And how do you think he's gonna kill me?" Salah looked almost amused.

"We don't know. It could be with a friend, it could be with a hitman." Tyson ran in. "I heard about the withdraw. We've gotta get her out of here."

"Wait, I was the wildcard? All of you KNEW! None of you told me!"

"If it's any consolation, I didn't know." Kura smiled. "Of course I still don't know anything, Like what's going on..."

"He could strike anywhere, at anytime." Tyson continued ignoring both of them. "It could be as qui---ah screw it. I'm not even doing a good job of hiding it am I?"

"Tyson?" Salah looked at him.

"Surprise." The otter's voice was strangely off.

"Oh shit." Salah's eyes grew. Finally realising that she was just standing there, she dived under the desk.

"He's doused! Take him down NOW!" Mike flipped his staff in front of him.

Tyson smiled a bit as he ripped the staff out of the wolf's paws sending it sailing. "Yeah. It kinda does boost your strength."

"It's the same thing." Brent was frozen. "It's the same damn thing."

"Not again!" Mike lunged towards Tyson only to be sent flying into a wall.

"Yep." Tyson's eyes were almost identical to wavelengths. "It is."

"Tyson? What's going..." Kura never got to finish her sentence, as she found herself in an unconsious heap.

"Gotta save the good stuff for the Snobgirl." Tyson aplogized. "Maybe next time...No daring rescue Brent? That's right. It's exactly the same. You still can't do anything."

Brent gritted his teeth.

"Like hell it is." The cat charged forward only to be thrown off balance.

"More angst for you then." Tyson looked down at him "And here I was thinking of an epic battle. You're not even thinking."

Brent suddenly made a desperate grab for the otter's legs. Stepping quickly to one side, Tyson slammed a footpaw down on his body.

"Nope. Doesn't look like your going to move for a while either." He walked forwards a little and literally kicked over the desk revealing Salah. "Yeah, I CAN do that. Isn't that cool?"

"T-Tyson...you know the r-retroviruses are..." Salah started.

"But here's the thing. In this daze, I don't care. But I will later if it helps." Tyson put the point of the staff to her neck. "Exactly the same."

"Not quite."

That was the last thing Tyson heard before he found himself waking up in a fuzzy daze, his staff lying just feet away from him.

"Ah hell. Did I just..."

History could have gone any infinate number of ways here. In the exact same scenario, countless times over, Tails had shaken his head no. He never met Sora or Craig, none of them got involved.

Salah was dead. Karastil had control, and the world had slipped that much farther into corruption.

However, history had played out this one way.

This one way in an endless sea of alternatives.

Tails had knocked the staff out of Tyson's hands and knocked the otter out immeaditly after. On one hand, that saved Salah and probably everyone gathered in the room.

On the other, he had just changed the course of the world.

---

"Right, and why should I really care about any of that? I mean, as long as Tyson-Ka's okay." Sora shrugged.

A little bit after the incident, the entire student body had been completely evacuated from the Academy. Students flooded the training grounds just as the grass was beginning to dry.

"It's a little creepy." Tails gave her a look. "I mean, if your dad can instantly minipulate someone that's been against him since day one..."

"Then he could do the exact same thing to us." Craig finished. "It's more then just 'a little creepy'."

"Relax. He can't touch you guys as long as I'm hanging around. I hung around his flunkies for most of my life. I know when someone's working for him." Sora smirked a bit.

"Great, so our lives basically depend on Sora." Craig smiled. "I guess there's no reason to worry about it anymore. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go up to dorm and curl up in a ball for the rest of eternity."

"It kinda hurts after 2 hours." Tails looked out over those gathred. "Oh, sarcasm. Sorry."

"You were just setting me up for that weren't you? It was double sarcasm!"

"What?"

"You were being sarcastic on the fact that I was being sarcastic."

"I can't be sarcastic on sarcasam. That would mean I'd have to be serious...or becuase I was being serious about sarcasm, I was being sarcastic and really not serious at all..." Tails stopped in confusion. "No wait, I got it, it was..."

"Here's an explination. Craig's an idiot and you're worse." Sora stopped him.

"Forget it. You know what he's like once you get him on paradoxes." Craig just shook his head.

"Okay, if you were being serious about being sarcastic, then I countered with sarcasm about your seriousness of being sarcastic. Of course I was being seroius about sarcasam so..."

Sora and Craig looked at each other and sighed.

---

"Well, it's been a lovely mess of a day."

Tyson woke up to find Brent and Salah waiting for him.

"Glad to see you river-boy. Thought you'd still be crazy." Salah laughed a bit.

"What?...I just tried to kill you and..."

"Shake it off, you keep the idea that it was your fault in your head and you won't end up any better then I am. You okay?"

"No, I feel like I was hit by a truck, a moped, and a golf cart in that order." Tyson sat up a bit rubbing his head.

"Pft. That's nothing. Those headaches aren't gonna stop anytime soon." Brent waved it off.

"You're not really helping the situation here."

"It's gonna get twenty times worse." Salah softened her voice. "That's kinda why we're here."

"Worse?"

"You're gonna start seeing things in your mind's eye, and their not going to be plates of fried salmon." Brent offered.

"Plates of fried salmon?" Salah looked at him.

"One, I hate cliches. Two, I'm hungry." Brent looked back.

"Okay, so I'm going to have violent fantasies and Crayshen has tree bark for brains. Anything else?"

"Yeah. You're going to die and it's not gonna be from old age."

"Oh God not..."

"FOX..." Brent collapsed on the ground "..DIE..." He sputtered out.

"It doesn't even work on the same principles as FOXDIE. If anything Kojima copied off my mom not the other way around. The project was started 15 years before the game was released!" Salah kicked him.

"I just find it funny. They're a little similar aren't they?" Brent didn't get up.

"No, one was controlled by nanomachines that could self desturct. This eats away at your amino acids to where your entire body dissolves in a painful mess."

"And why are you two going out of your way to explain this?"

"I dunno. Felt like it should be addressed." Brent got back up.

"Whatever. So my body's gonna dissolve in a painful mess?" Tyson's expression didn't change.

"Not exactly painful really, think of it like being eaten from the inside out, except you don't know when it's gonna start, and you don't know when it's gonna finish." Salah picked up a notebook that had been lying next to her. "Now out of all people, Slak's been working on sort of a reverse, but there's a few problems. For one, this thing is also filled with Sharpear's poetry, and maps of the dungeons in Phantasy Star."

"I was wondering where I put those." Brent tried to lean over to see the papers.

"The second issue we've got here, is Slak doesn't really know what he's talking about, and when it comes to this thing, I don't either. It's gonna take some time and a lot of my mom's old notes to get around this thing."

"As long as I don't die within the next 30 seconds. I'm fine."

"That might not be a problem. It takes some time for the full failsafe to kick in. For one thing you have to actually snap."

"And that's the other reason while we're here." Brent smiled sheepishly. "You need to learn to keep your anger in check pal."

"I'm not really that angr--"

"You will be. When someone bumps into you, when you stub your footpaw, when they're all out of those little fruit pies in the vending machine. Weird things happen with your brain."

"Great. So whenever something happens, I'll go insane, and if I go insane..."

"You'll go even more insane." Brent nodded. "...Or something like that."

"I just wanna get back to my room and get a good book." Tyson managed to get up.

"Good idea, it helps to have thought proccess going." Salah helped him to the door. "You sure you don't want me to bauble you?"

"It's only a few flights up. Geez, I'm not that badly off." The otter strutted away with a injured determination.

"He's in for the night of his life if he dreams." Brent shook his head a little sympathetically.

"It only lasts for a while anyway." Salah said quietly. "Of course I can already tell what I'll be reliving tonight."

"...Look. About what happened back there..."

"Don't make this into something sappy, boy. It all worked out. I'm fine, Tyson will adjust, and best of all the whole thing will knock Karastil as flat as day old Sprite when he hears about it."

"You know what Snobgirl? You have got to be the strangest, most amazing yet mildly disturbed person I've ever met."

"Huh. I always that Sora was more along those lines."

"No, Lateri's completely disturbed. Anyway, thanks for not rubbing it in."

"Oh sorry, did I forget to do that?" Salah cleared her throat. "You're a loser, you couldn't even move to save my life! What kind of cheap bargin basement friend are you!"

"The only one you could get?" Brent winked.

"Ouch." Salah sat down for a second. "Okay even though that was meant as a joke, I mean it. Ouch."

"Oh don't get your armor in a rut, there's still Kura."

"Wow. The best I could do were you two?"

"And now I go straight back to being slightly amazed/slightly appauled by you." Brent sighed.

"Oh shut up and get me a soda."

"I got it last time, get me one."

The two looked at each other meancingly.

"How we gonna decide this? A thumb war?"

"We don't have thumbs, just those weird anthro things that you know are sorta hands but not really." Brent looked at his paws.

"How about trivia?" Salah offered

"On what?"

"The Oddesy?"

"Homer's epic, or the 1969 video game system where you had to actually put a plastic background on your T.V?"

"Okay, you're too much of a nerd for that..." Salah went back to thinking. "Okay, useless fact-off?"

"Ants yawn when they wake up, apricot was a failed Jello flavor, and the kid on the Cracker Jack box is named Robert."

Salah stared at him. "I'll get the soda." She slowly got up.

"You knew you were gonna loose from the first second." Brent raised a paw in victory.

"Stop it or I'll break your arm into bite size pieces." Salah didn't turn around as she walked out.

"Hey, how many bedrooms are there in Clue?" Brent called after her. "There aren't any!"

"Shut up!"

"Half of the genes in a bannana are the same as in a human!" Brent kept it up.

Salah came back with one soda, gulped it down, and crunched the can into his face.

---

Maybe it was true what they said. Maybe you really do go into flashbacks while unconsious.

"You think after the Academy this wouldn't scare me so much." She was sharpening her claws on the cloth seat she was in, one of her nerous habits.

"You know what you're problem is? That you think you're gonna go in and fight. You signed on as a Medic, you're not leading a charge." Michael had tried to comfort her, make her feel better. After all she wasn't acting like herself, she never did when she was nervous about something.

"Great, so people's lives'll be in my hands, and I have to deal with the enemy. Sounds like a blast."

"Are you trying to be sarcastic? Doesn't seem like it's in you." He liked to prod her about that. She was always the good samartin. Never did anything for herself, just for the others.

No wonder she was miserable, she had made herself into a doormat.

"I guess not. I'm just worried about the whole thing. I mean exercises and Drills are one thing, but actually risking your life?"

"If you're so against it, why'd you come?" He had asked.

"I followed you remember? You weren't going to leave me behind."

"May..." He looked at her sympathetically. "You really need to learn to look out for yourself."

What the hell was he saying? Take it back, idiot! She needs you to stick around.

Or it'll be all your fault.

What's more important, her being happy or her being alive!

That's the dumbest question you've ever asked yourself. Don't go ruining her happiness just to make yours more complete.

"Okay both of you listen up. I don't like the idea of having two apprentices and I don't really seem to like you guys either. So here's how it works. You keep out of my fur, and just do what you're told and don't bother me with your worthless problems. Follow that, and we'll get along fine."

"I don't need training! Do you know who my dad is?" The girl was yelling at him. Everything he loved and hated mixed into one snobbish little package.

"She tried to set my hat on fire, and I think she might have broke my third toe." The boy was on the verge of tears. He had that same sad look that Paul used to have after a fight. Memories you wanted to forget, staring you in the face.

Michael put his head in his paws. "How long are you two staying on?"

"4 years." They answered simeltaniously.

His head bolted back up. "In that case, we have all the time in the world to train. Just leave me alone for a while.

Oh that's brilliant. You could take THAT one back. Tell them you actually enjoy their company, that you're just bitter over who their families are.

You need to spend more time with them.

One more lesson could've changed so many things.

That's pretty dumb also. They've come into thier own, not half bad fighters either. Why would I be bitter over their heritage? Those were the ones I wanted to protect. It's a bit pathetic and maybe a bit too fatherly...but I'm proud of them for getting this far.

So what about _those_ three? What's to stop them from following the same path you did?

Are you trying to pair up two generations? Sora doesn't exactly fit May's part, and Craig's got a better head on his shoulders then Axen did at that age. So whose my counterpart, the fox-boy? I won't need to worry about that.

He's figured it out nearly 30 years before I did.

So is this the best you could do? Maybe despair has lost it's luster. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't just selfish, it doesn't work. You know what does?

Life.

"He's spewing out philisophical babble. Think he's awake yet?"

"Whazzat? Edsfmerk." Michael held his head up and blinked a bit to focus. "If that's you Mason, go ahead and laugh already. You were right and I was wrong. Happy?"

"Sorry. Just three annoying kids who won't leave you alone."

Michael blinked some more and fuzzily came back to reality.

"Didn't they evacuate the place?" He looked at the small gathering around his bed.

"Yeah." Tails shrugged. "But it's a mess security wise. We've already been down to the lab and had a hayday of information gathering."

"I aplogize for my friend using the term 'hayday'. He obviously needs to have it beaten out of him." Sora thwacked him in the head.

"Believe it or not, there are such things as haydays. Or at least that's what they called fall festivals back in the R of I."

"Republic of Illionis? You? But you're so not...obessed with corn."

"If anyone else from the place herd you say that, they'd yell at you for promoting a sterotype. But I grew up there and I agree, it is a miracle I got away." Michael sat up. "So, get anthing good?"

"A lot of information on where Karastil could be." Craig put a stack of papers on a table next to the bed. "And Tails found...something else."

"Consider it a get well soon gift." The fox smiled, bought out a small outdated tape recorder, and pressed play.

"Tape 5, on the effects of the Project JX-2012B surname- Factor Experiment. Instead of going on blabbing about my notes today, here's something I've always wanted to do." A hideious scratching noise suddenly broke off into an uncregonizeable melody of terror.

Mike burst out laughing. "Meora never could sing. Thanks guys. That helped more then you could know right now."

Tails pressed the stop button and left the player on top of the stack.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Never better. See ya guys later. Seriously, thanks for the gift."

The three trudged out.

Tails however, walked back in, alone.

"What is it?" He looked at Michael.

"What'ya mean?"

"What I have 30 years before you got it."

Michael laughed a bit. "Heard that part huh? You've got a love for life kid. That simple."

Tails sighed. "There's where the problem is. What's the point?"

"Hm?"

"Life is just a bunch of stupid conincidiences stringed together. We suffer and watch others suffer, completely unable to do things in the broader picture. Why do we have to go through all of it."

Michael stared at him. "Don't talk like an idiot."

"But..."

"Do you know why the third rule is "leave your legacy behind?' Experinces don't just shape the person, they shape the future. Your life affects another life affects another life. You can't just live for you, you can't let other people wipe your feet on you either. YOUR life will affect THEIR life, and vice versa. Get it?"

"No."

"In short, your legacy is life in some form. It's true you'll kill _something_ over the course of your life, but you'll also create new life as well."

"What in the name of beans..."

"I think you got it, you just don't want to admit it because it sounds cheesy. Sorry, it's true." Michael managed to shrug.

"God, I can't take it anymore! I'm sorry I asked, I'm going to go throw up now." Tails clasped a paw over his mouth and ran out.

"That's a bad act, kid. Don't ignore something just becuase you don't like how it ends up!" Mike called after him.

---

"Thirty six! I got a 36 on the freakin' essay!" Sora stared at her paper as she walked away from the classroom beside Gil.

"We've had 3 weeks to do it. Of course, I fudged it over breakfeast but..." Gil waved a paper with a very prominent "72" on it.

"The joke is getting old!" Sora yelled at the cieling.

Gil edged off and ran down a hallway while she was still staring at the tiles.

"What, did someone write the word 'reduntant' all over the cieling again?" Slak stopped by and looked up.

"No, shut up. I'm trying to intimidate the universe." Sora's angry look remained fixed.

"Any results?"

"No. I think the heveanly chiors are laughing at me again."

"What the-? This isn't one of those 'everyone stares at the cieling only to be hit with irony' moments is it?" Brent passed by, and looked up.

"Lateri's trying to stare down God again." Slak was still staring straight up.

"Bad idea. He tends to win at these types of things." Brent didn't remove his gaze either. "Believe me, I've tried."

Tails walked by and stopped, shaking his head.

"What? No stupid comment about this?" Brent didn't look at him.

"Way too easy." He smirked and walked off.

"Rats. I blinked." Sora mumbled crumpling her paper up and strutting off.

"You know, she wasn't really staring at anything." Slak squinted his eyes at one of the tube lights.

"Yeah, I know." Brent barely nodded.

"We're pathetic."

"I know that too."

"Then what are you..."

"Darnit. I blinked." Brent mumbled walking away.

Slak just shrugged.

RETROSPECTIVE

Alis' hope could not overcome the power of Lassic.

Yep. Plot progression. Don't wanna explain the Prisoner's Delima here check it out at H2G2 under the Deep Thought section.

The flasbacks were a little dry, but I have all this wonderful prequel material that I can't use in my notebook and I figured this would be the perfect excuse to show it all off.

These chapters are taking longer not out of laziness (Well sorta...I'm hooked on Sword of Jade) but lately I've been rewriting them about 40 times. Forgive the lack of spell check on this one. Thanks to peer pressure and constant plugging I bought into the whole OpenOffice thing and it ended up wrecking my custom dictionaries...and my base dictionaries...so I'm left with a spell check that accepts the word "Gnarklemjoof" as a word. I'd love to see their definition of that.

In the meantime I'm going to go back a bit and fix up some chapters with some MAJOR plotholes and messy bits so by next update some things may have changed. Keep an open eye out.

Anyone else think that the new Tails model in the Sonic Riders trailer looks older? It might've just been the bangs. Why are they so long?


	24. A Very Special Filler Episode

"Friend or not, there are some times where I really, really hate you Sora." Tails gritted his teeth as he tried to pull his head up.

"Yeah, well you should never fall asleep at a desk for good reason." Sora shrugged.

"You just glued me to this thing."

"And never leave your modeling glue in plain sight." Sora threw the tube over her shoulder.

"I'll remember that." Tals delivered solemenly. "Now get some nail polish remover or something."

"Do I look like I have nails?"

"Er, claw-polish remover?' Tails' face went into confusion. "Whatever, just get me out of this!"

"Nope. No classes today and Craig and Samuel-Ka went to that Guard Wing meeting. That just leaves you stuck to your desk and me to root throguh your stuff. What've we got?" She cracked her paws and looked around the room

"When I get out of this I am going to hurt you, VERY badly." Tails mumbled.

"NFE data, an old Gamegear without batteries...Aviation goggles? What are ya trying to do? Copy off Digimon?"

"Oh, look who's talking." Tails rolled his eyes

"Be quiet." Sora moved to the closet. "Biplane models, some stupid purple necklace..."

"IT'S A BADGE!"

"Sure it is. And the whole thing is topped by.." She paused again. "Blueprints for an evil underground fortress of doom?"

"Uh, I confiscated those from the enemy?" Tails sweatdropped.

"They have your signature."

"So? That could've been forged."

"And your two-tailed logo thing in the corner."

"It was a phase I was going through." Tails tried to pry his head up again. "Look, I don't have anything that would hold your interest okay? If you're not going to help me move my head off my desk, can you at least leave my room?"

"What about that thing next to you?"

Tails moved his eyes over to the right of him.

"Oh. Photo of me and Sonic. So what?"

"Well it's just that..." Sora stared at it narrowing her eyes comtemplatively. "You actually look happy."

"I'd act a lot happier here if things like this didn't happen to me."

"I don't get it. You leave a life of advenutre travelling with who may be the most famous person alive, to come here and learn how to swing a metal pole."

"Because I'm sick of being treated like the sideshow."

"From that picture, it looks like you were pretty content with being the sideshow."

"No, I was, and still am, content with being best friends with Sonic. There's your difference."

"That's the other thing I don't get." Sora pulled up another chair and sat down beside Tails, his head still glued in the same position. "You're an absolute geek..."

"Stop, you're too kind."

"..And yet you get to be the best friend of Hourglass Magazine's' Anthro of the Century. What's the deal?"

"Oh no, you're not going to get me to flashback."

"If you don't, I'll glue your tails to your nose."

"Again!"

"C'mon. Let's hear what cliche general angst you have in store for us." Sora leaned back.

"Fine, but you get me out of this mess afterwards. Deal?"

"Deal."

She stared at him "Well?"

"I'm trying to get the mood right. Think of this way. If we were in a story, there would be a sudden shift to first person..."

---

Nobody ever wins a war. There are those that are left behind to deal with the mess of the previous generation...Those that are haunted by the past...

Then there's those who lost something.

I don't know who the hell my parents were, let alone if they're still alive. I stopped caring when I realised they weren't coming for me.

I know I come from a place called Coco Island. I know that it was invaded by the Battle Kukku. And I know that that's how I ended up in an orphanage on West Island. Other than that, everything before that feels fuzzy.

I was barely 7 at the time. I liked to read everything I got my hands on. Magazines, repair manuals, even the fine print _inside_ the cereal box.

There were two things in the world for me then. Words, and machines. It was the one thing I had over the other kids...of course I had a couple other things too that they wouldn't let me forget.

"Hey, Miiiiiiiles. If you were a skunk would you smell twice as bad?"

"Skunks don't spray from their tails they spray from..."

And then I'd get locked underneath the sink for two hours.

"Hey, Miiiiiiles. The circus called and wanted you to be at the freak show."

"That was pathetic. Can't you make up some kinda rhyme or..."

That got me duct-taped to the fan

No matter what I said, what kind of logic I used, whatever I did, I always ended up getting some absurd form of 'kiddie torture'. Now when I look back on it, I realize that those kids were orphans too. They probably needed some way to feel superior. I guess they always just took it out on me.

That's when I started building things.

It started out a little small of course. I jury-rigged the T.V to switch over to CNN whenever those jerks sat down for Satruday morning cartoons. They never figured that one out.

I'd mess around with some other suff too. There was a junkyard not too far from the orphanage. I hung out there a lot, modfying old toasters to shoot pellets, making an old bike into a makeshift motorcycle...well it only ran for about 30 seconds and then the engine tended to catch on fire, but it was still something.

There was something else I found out while I was alone also.

I was on top of some junk pile reaching for a hubcap when I lost my balance. It wasn't a short fall, and I was postive I was going to splatter myself into several equal portions of squished kitsune, when the last thing I expected happened to me.

In complete fear, I had twisted up my tails, making them twirl once. Just once.

I hit the ground pretty hard, but I didn't care. I was alive, and I was pretty sure I knew what I just did.

I got on top of a smaller mound, just enough to gain some leeway between myself and the ground, jumped, twisted my tails and...

I hovered back to the ground.

I could hover.

Immediatly my thoughts went higher. If I could hover then there had to be some possibilty that maybe just maybe, I might be able to...

Fly.

In excitement I climbed the massive pile again and leaped off with the helicopter effect taking in, hovering for a few seconds and then crashing to the ground, nearly breaking my muzzle.

I didn't care. For once in my life I found a new reason to wake up. Every day meant going out and getting better at _flying_. I was going to _fly._ I wouldn't have to mess around on West Island all my life, I didn't have to stay with people who hated me, I'd have the freedom to go where I want to, whenever I wanted to.

One day it worked.

As simple as that. No anime cutscene moment, no jumping off a cliff and nearly crashing onto the rocks below, it just...worked.

The only thing I could think of while I was hanging there in mid-air was to leave. So I put a little force behind myself and looked behind me as the island got smaller. I was thrilled. So thrilled I didn't notice the biplane going down in flames heading straight for me.

When I turned around there was no chance to escape it so I faced it head on grabbed the wing, watching as I was sucked back down, only this time I was going to feel like a meteor.

I was hanging on by the right wing, my eyeballs nearly tearing themselves out of my skull, my teeth and fangs fully exposed.

"PULL UP!" I tried to yell to the pilot.

"I AM PULLING UP!" He yelled back at me.

'NO, YOU'RE PUSHING DOWN! THE CONTROLS ARE INVERTED MORON!"

"WHAT?"

"I SAID THE CONTROLS ARE INVERT---"

The conversation ended with the loud explosion of a plane plowing into a beach.

---

I woke up and saw that I obviously must have died. Wasn't so bad, trees, gentle wind, crab-like robot about to blast me into oblivion...

Oh beans.

Ah, well at least I was going to die in a sorta cool way, and the blue hedgehog slicing the thing into chunks was pretty neat also. Oh I was safe.

"Huh?" I looked up as a non-anthro rabbit hopped away from the wreckage. "What was that?"

"Evil robot powered by fuzzy animal." The hedgehog shrugged.

"Huh. Why not just use batteries?"

"Oh right, you don't know. Insane scientist built 'em."

"And the best power source he could think of was fuzzy animals?"

"No one ever said life had to make sense." The hedgehog shrugged.

It took me a moment to remember he had been the one piloting the biplane.

"Uh, how did we...live?" I finally asked.

"I snatched you out at the last second." He seemed to brush it off. "Got you out of that explosion too. You're pretty light."

"Thanks...wait." I frowned and shook my head. "We were headed for the ground at around Mach 2..."

"Actually it was 462 mph." The hedgehog shrugged. "I've seen Mach 2. It's okay. Not that great."

"F-four hundred and s-sixty two..." I nearly fainted.

"Yeah. Saved your life three times already. No need for thanks, stay in school, don't do drugs etc. etc."

"Thanks...you want me to thank you...for dragging me from a burning plane at 462 mph?" I started to shake. "Do you know how much of a miracle it is we're BOTH still alive?"

My new found companion hand a blank look on his face. "Look at me kid. See me?"

"Yeah."

"Well, know ya don't." He disappeared with a lood zoom ringing in my ears.

"That does it. My life is INSANE." I held my head in my paws. "Innnsane."

"I'm standing right here kid. Relax." His voice came from behind me.

I turned around to see him standing there. I took a deep breath.

"Super speed?" I aksed deadpan.

"Yep."

"And from that display back there you can slice robots up by turning into some sorta giant pizza cutter?"

"Bingo."

"Oh." I nodded.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh." I affirmed and then broke out into a huge grin. "YOU ARE THE COOLEST PERSON I HAVE EVER MET IN MY LIFE!"

"There we go." He sighed almost out of relief. "Name's Sonic kid. Remember it. You're gonna hear that a lot more in the future."

"Er...um...Miles Prower." I extended a paw.

"Your parents named you after a unit of measurement?" He shook it reluctantly.

"Actually I thought about that. You see, the universe has it in for me so it just ended up being..."

"I'm just gonna call you Tails. Not exactly original but sorta rythmyic, to the point." He shrugged.

"Tails?" I was confused for a second. "Oh." My ears fell. "I guess it's kinda hard not to notice huh?"

"What's the problem? That's sorta cool."

"Tell that to everyone else." I sulked.

"Social outcast?" He looked at me sympathetically.

I nodded.

"And your parents don't stand up for ya?"

"Don't got any."

He sat down, leaned against a tree and sighed, closing his eyes.

"Can you run?"

"You mean like you? No."

"But you can run right?"

"Yeah. I guess..I don't know I was never very serious about it."

"Good. Stay that way. You get serious about things and the world will squish you flat." He stood and cracked his back. "From what I saw up there, you can fly right?"

My heart jumped with pride. "Yeah! Yeah, I can!"

"So you're a two-tailed fox that can fly. Right, and MY life isn't insane?"

We both laughed a bit.

"And you knew something about that plane..." He started again.

"That the controls were inverted? Everyone knows that, who taught you how to fly?"

"Myself." He pointed at himself with pride. "Oh, wait. Maybe you've got a point. Okay, but at least I can keep it steady. I was hit with a laser for crying out loud. Well, I guess I do need to get that old heap fixed up regardless. Know any good mechanics?"

"Myself." I pointed at myself with pride, mocking his eariler gesture.

"Cute." He mumbled.

"No, seriously. That's an old Fokker model from WWI. Where'd the heck you get that?"

"It was a gift for saving an entire island from being destroyed."

"Yeah, I'm the one being cute." I mumbled.

"No, seriously. That's sorta why I'm here."

"On West Island? You think something bad is going to happen on West Island? NOTHING ever happens here."

He grabbed me, turned me around and tilted my head up.

"Oh."

Rising out of nowhere was a very large metal frame spewing smoke in every direction.

"It sorta looks like a launch base...but no rocket's that huge. What is it?"

"A launch base."

I turned around to face him. "You realise every single thing we say to each other gets shot down with sarcasm?"

"Then we're an odd pair. Anything wrong with that?" Sonic shrugged.

"Not at all." I smiled. "So, where'd we crash at?"

---

"Welder." I held my paw out.

"Welder." Sonic handed it to me. "Where'd you get this thing anyw-"

"Don't look straight at it!" I snapped lowering the mask and emitting the flame.

"Wrench." I dropped the mask and welder and held my paw up again.

"Wrench." Sonic gave the other tool to me.

"Red wire."

"Look, it's not like I don't love being completely out of the picture here but how long is this..."

"Red wire."

"Red wire." He sighed.

"Alright then." I crawled out from underneath the underbelly. "Wanna try spinning the propeller?"

"Alright." He was already next to it.

"1...2..." I smiled.

KARJUNK!

"Oh come on! Robotic ladybugs!" I whined as the plane was slowly crushed under the weight of dozens of robots.

"Hey, he worked hard on that." Sonic angirly went into a spin.

"No wait, you're going to make things..."

It was no use. He went straight through the plane on his way to the robots.

"...Worse." I squeaked as the plane fell apart.

I was begining to hate dramatic irony.

"Well come on!" He yelled back at me from a distance and was at my position in a blink of an eye. "Are you going to help or what?"

"But what do I..."

"Jump!"

"What?"

"JUMP!"

He grabbed my paw, and threw me up, landing me on one of the robots.

It exploded with a statysifing poof as the smoke cleared and a Flickie flew away.

"That's it?" I looked at him.

"That's it. Hurry up!" He was already dealing with another one.

I grit my teeth and ran towards the next robot in a charge, stomping my sneaker on it.

Same effect.

"They aren't exactly well built are they?" I looked over at Sonic.

"Actually, believe it or not, it's not that easy for others. You have to some strength in your jump or your just gonna get electorcuted."

"Guess all that flying practice payed off then. I'm gonna take them all on."

"Watch out for that yellow one though, it tends to.."

I found out the hard way as I was straight in the air. Comming down, I managed to punch the 'bot in the head causing the same small explosion.

"Who puts a trampoline on a robot?"

"Don't ask. Just keep at it."

I turned around to face the other robots and grinned.

I was saving the island.

Maybe dramatic irony wasn't such a bad thing after all.

----

We set up camp in the junkyard, where we had drug the remains of the biplane.

Sonic started a small fire. I was a bit on edge afraid that an old mattress or something would catch fire, but decided to relax.

"Sorry about the plane man."

"No problem." I waved it off. "You were just trying to help."

"Good. No guilt there then." He kicked back, closing his eyes again.

"Uh..._some _guilt would be appreciated."

"For a seven year old, you talk too much."

"I read a lot!" I tried in self-defense.

"You're different though." He continued ignoring me. "You've got something I haven't seen in anybody for a long time."

"What?"

"Dreams."

"What's that supposed to mean? Everybody has some kinda dream."

"But how many people go through with them? How many people carry their dreams with them?" He opened his eyes. "I've seen that in very few people. You're someone special alright."

"You sound like a cruddy movie. I'm a two-tailed freak that knows a little about machines and can hover for a while."

"When's the last time you were happy?" He changed the subject again out of nowhere.

"Huh? What's with all these..."

"I've only seen you smile twice today. Once when we met and once when you were fighting those robots. When's the last time you were happy?"

"W-when I found out I could fly." This was the first time I ever really looked at myself like that.

"Before that."

"...I don't know."

"Then what's kept you going? What's the thing that kept you standing up to those other kids despite what you knew was going to happen?"

"Because...I was right..."

"And they were wrong." Sonic nodded. "Things may not always be black and white, but you can't forget that doesn't mean black and white don't exist."

"But that just sounds selfish. I was right and they were wrong? Where's the good in that?"

"Dunno. Maybe you'll figure it out one day."

"Have you?"

"Yep."

"Then what is it?"

Sonic smiled. "Can't tell ya. What I can say is that life never really works out the way you expect it to. Never does."

"I don't get it."

"Night Tails."

"But I don't..."

"Just go to sleep."

I just looked at the sky for a moment. It was weird, one moment I was trying to get away from this place, the next, trying to save it.

Life really doesn't play out like you think it would.

---

"And from there, it's the whole West Island thing, I already told you about." Tails had made no progress in dislodging his head, despite his best efforts.

Sora looked at the photo again. "Weird. I never would've pictured the guy to be philisophic."

"He never said anything like that again. I think it was a one time thing." Tails tried once more to move. "Okay, c'mon and get me out of this already!"

"You're still kinda whiny aren't you? You still didn't answer my question. Why'd you leave it all?"

"Because it all turned back on itself. You wouldn't get it Sora. It's like..."

"You completely forgot what you were doing it for in the first place."

There was that feeling again, you didn't want to look at yourself but knew the truth.

"Y-yeah." Tails thought for a second but shrugged it off. "No! You don't know what it's like to get shoved in the ba--ck--ground..." He stopped as he saw her face grow into disapproval. "Okay so you do, but everyone has different ways of handling it."

"And yours is to get in the middle of a giant conspriacry?"

"No one asked your opinion Lateri."

"No, but someone did ask for my help getting their head off their desk."

"You glued me to it!" Tails cried out appleaing with every ounce of sanity he had left.

"Fine. I think Slak-Ka has some claw polish remover hanging around..."

"Don't tell me why." Tails winced.

"I'll be back in 10 minutes." Sora walked out the door. "And then it's straight to the commons, they're having a Tom and Jerry marathon."

Tails' eyes floated back to the photo. "Don't you two stare at me like that. She's a friend."

The smiling faces stared back.

"Okay, the fact I'm trying to defend myself in front of an inatimate object looks bad but...you know this whole thing would be a lot more fuffiling if I didn't have glue in my fur."

SONIC 2

U.S RELEASE DATE NOV.20 1992

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOXBOY!


	25. Lucky Rabbit's Foot

The tone sounded.

The doors slowly opened and an endless line of students crowded the hallway, a feeling of dark dread about them.

First period was over.

This is usually considered as one of the worst things that can happen in the schoolday, not because first period is so great, but because you come to the realization that you've barely started.

"You know your life would be just a tad bit better if you wouldn't carry everything you own in that." Craig looked concerned as Sora tried to stuff another book in her already overflowing pack. "Do you _ever_ use your locker!"

"Nah. I like to keep it clean."

"Says the girl who saves any sock lint that sticks to her footpaws."

"So let's talk about your bad habits then. For one,you nibble on your ears like they're cobs of corn." Sora looked at him judgementally.

"And I don't constantly whine about massive back pain." Craig nodded.

"Nope." Sora thwacked him in the head, her staff already at her side. "Not your back anyway."

"Ah, look at them. They're so cute!" The type of girl who says things like that passed by them.

"You see!" Craig rubbed his head. "You're not helping either of us with that! People already think we're practically married anyway."

Sora looked at him carefully.

"So about the pre-nuptal agreement..."

"SORA!" Craig reeled back as if he were about to break himself in two. Joy and utter despair were tearing his mind apart, he didn't know how to react, maybe if it wasn't the middle of the beggining of the day, he could think clearer. Yeah clearer becuase---

"Sarcasam. We disucssed that, remember? Joking. Just joking." Sora destroyed his train of thought, straining herself as she picked up the bag.

No one knew what was exactly in her pack. She was never quite acdemically inclined and her books just seemed to dispear and reappear as the need came. The papers were another mystery. She wasn't the type to pass notes and she never copied anything down in class. According to some of the more popular theories, the papers were actually detailed plans on a massive counterfit operation. Another said they were just wrapping to conceal the ball and chain she drug around.

The smallest and closest school of thought, consited of those who knew Sora.

The papers were just totally blank, and it wasn't worth asking why they were there because you probably didn't want to know anyway.

"Where's Tails?" Craig regained his composure. "Usually he'd be quoting Tolstoy or something about now wouldn't he?"

"Is he trying to fly over the crowd again?" Sora looked up, the backpack nearly crashing her to the ground.

"He got a hold of a bunch of Meora-Ka's old tapes a few days ago. I think he's been spending some time listening to them." Craig finally started to break away from the lockers and head to the next class. "Listen, Captain Eterna's teaching Advanced Stratgey today and I need to..."

He didn't get it out before the next tone pierced his ears.

"What's wrong with a nice bell?" Sora yelled over the noise. "It's calm, it's to the point, and it doesn't sound like the walls are caving in."

"Oh shut up!" Craig yelled back. "It's supposed to be good for us!"

"Says the same adults that invented lead paint..." Sora grumbled dejectedly under her breath as she ran to her next class.

---

"Hell," A middle aged human, a rough goatee growing on his chin, walked into the rec room with several folders under his arm. "Is this _it_?" He looked from left to right, panning the scene out in his head.

"You mean to tell me," He began again. "That this "huge uprising" you were all talking about is a couple of cats and a mutated fox cub?"

Salah smiled at him. "Good to have you back Vale. We couldn't do without your foreboding sense of doom."

Brent sank into the couch. "I thought I was filling that hole rather nicely."

"No, you have this lighthearted version of doom. You enjoy it too much." Salah corrected him and turned back to Vale. "So as you can see things haven't changed much."

"Wouldn't want 'em different." The man shrugged and looked at Tails. "So you're the kid Kar's been whining about? No offense, you don't seem like much."

Tails looked at him with a blank face. "Neither do you."

"I'm not." Vale stared at him some more.

"Uh..." Brent looked from one face to the other. "What the heck...?"

"I like this kid." Vale's experssion didn't change.

"Thanks." Tails also remained as stoic.

"Let's start..." Salah tried to add some life to the conversation. Hell, just any life to the _room_ would be welcome at this point. "So, mind closing the whole O-Zero thing up once and for all? I mean what happened?"

"Stuff." Vale turned to face her.

"...Yeah..." Salah nodded slowly. "We know that much..."

"Do you? Then why are you asking me?"

"What I meant," Salah began to grind her fangs. "Was if you had any idea of the 'stuff' that happened."

"Why bother with details? For that matter why bother with this thing at all? Can't you just kill Karastil and get this mess over with already?"

Salah slowly raised a paw and let several claws out. "Shut up. What happened?"

"Better." Vale nodded as if in approval. and dropped his stuff on the nerby table."Karastil wanted to do several things at once. One, cover up the continued devolpment of the experiment, two cover up May's death, and finally, get the Banelan brothers out of the way."

"What did they have to do with anything?" Tails raised an eyebrow. "I never quite got how they fit into it."

"Kar's scared of the past. He's scared of his friends, he's scared of what happened. Axen, Meora, Michael, Juro, Taraku, Kaze...everyone he's gone after was a high ranking offical in Advance Wing with him.

"So he's just after the soldiers." Salah sat down at the small table next to Tails. "He doesn't want the people he served with to oppose him..."

"Because they all came through the same conditions he did. The only ones who saw the same things." Vale closed his eyes for a second. "Whatever they were, they obviously influenced his philisophy."

"Which would be.." Tails let the half-question hang in the air.

"He's sick of it." The scientist opened his eyes again. "Sick of war, sick of this extreme-individualism, sick of division, fighting, what passes for socitey...this world without bouandries is a world without morality. He wants to reverse that. He wants to recreate the superpowers."

"So what, he wants to conquer the region? He won't get very far." Tails tried to pin the idea down.

"Who said he was doing it through the military?" Vale looked at the kit. "People are the key. You don't even have to be rich, just buy off the most important ones and the rest fall like domi--"

"Rephrase that please." Brent looked at him from the couch.

"Uh..." Vale blinked.

"Fall like false teeth tied to a blender." Salah threw a pencil at him.

"Okay. Sorry. Keep going." Brent waved his permission as the pencil hit him in the head.

"So anyway..." Vale shook his head a bit trying to regain a sense of sanity. "O-Zero was all an elaborate ploy. Creating the "true" killer. No one would ask any questions about a 'failed' experiment. So he used a close tie with the Banelans..."

"Mason." Salah mentioned simply.

"Yeah, him. He used a close tie with the Banelans to lure them out there, catch them in some sort of explosion, and pass the whole thing off as 'Darnit. Well these sacrifices have to be made you know.' But see, it turns out Mason was the first and only person Karastil ever met that just wouldn't be paid off. Either he's greedy, or he just can't stand the thought of killing the two people who put him up here."

"Wait. You're saying Michael p---" Brent started

Salah hushed him. "We can save that for some flashback or something. Keep going Rich."

Vale shrugged again. "That's it for O-Zero. Taraku ended up getting sliced into ribbons by some of Kar's goons, and the whole thing made legends out of the Banelan brothers."

"Here's one." Tails looked up at him. "You worked with Meora-Ka on the entire project from start till finish, right?"

"Yeah."m

"So how'd you pull it off thirty years before anyone started mapping a genome?" Tails narrowed his eyes.

Vale stared at him intensly. "You just pieced everything together. Really wanna know?" He reached for the stack of papers.

Salah stopped him. "You know what would make it better? If you very slowly took that knife out of that thing," She nodded to one of the manillia folders. "And forget any ideas about being the clever assasin."

Vale's hand hovered over the folder. "I could still do it you know."

"You'd only get one of us. You'd be dead in 30 seconds regardless. I don't think you're getting paid _that_ much." Brent merely raised a paw from the couch, not letting his head come into focus.

"Actually, I'm getting paid more. The risk would definitely be worth it." Vale moved his hand slowly away from the folder. "But I like the idea of watching everything blow up in Karastil's face." A sneer terrible enough to frighten the entire population of Scandanavia appeared on his face.

"Wait. You're going to kill me?" Tails started to rise from the chair, shock just kicking in.

"Was."

"Why not them?" Tails gestured to the two cats. "Okay, that didn't sound right, no offense guys, but why me!"

"Not just you. The rabbit and Miss Sora also. These two aren't the focus."

"It's so nice to know that the goal you've been pursuing all your life doesn't even concern you. What'ya mean they're the focus?" Brent slowly got off the couch and started walking towards the table.

"I don't know." Vale conceeded and turned to Tails. "It's probably all just revenge for messing up his plans. Watch where you step."

Tails nodded. "But uh...he'll be going after you too."

"He doesn't watch the watchers. Trust me, I'll be safer then you think."

"One last thing." Brent looked solemnley at the folder.

"What?" The man didn't turn around as a bauble appeared in front of him.

"What made you think you could throw a knife. You're not that fast."

"Wanted to try it." Vale shrugged one final time, and stepped into the bauble, dispearring with it.

"He took the folder." Salah gave a small whine and pounded on the table.

"Oh stop being so overdramtic. We'll wade through all the crap soon enough." Brent waved her off. "Hey Tails, you've got your classes cancelled for today. Ever play 5 consecutive hours of Wing Commander 3?"

"Never got to play it. Any good?"

"It has Mark Hamill..."

"Eh..."

"...With a moustache."

"I'm in!" Tails bolted up.

"Whatever. I'm going to sit her and complain for six hours." Salah grumbled only pairtally sarcastic. "Do either of you realise we just risked our lifes for practically nothing? He took the folder!" She tried to appeal to them.

"So what? Things'll work out." Brent looked at her and shook his head.

"Or maybe they won't and we'll all suffer." Tails offered.

The two sentences hung in the air and bounced off each other.

"Wait. Why are you being so cynical? I mean, c'mon you of all people should know about dramatic device by now." Brent started.

_Fwit._

"There's no reason to be optomistic about things lately is there? We nearly got killed. Don't be niave." Tails countered.

_Fwit._

"So what, now you're going angst/goth like on me? Show some spirit."

"Show some sense."

_FWOOM!_ Idealogical fire broke out.

"I'm showing some sense, by showing you it's not that bad, you've got off easy so far!"

"Oh yeah, like the constant attempts on my life have really been a cakewalk."

"I always won the cakewalks Prower. Came home with half of the darn thing once."

"Right, and probably made yourself sick on it."

Salah leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

For some odd reason, this was relaxing to her.

---

Craig walked out the classroom, notebook in hand, and No.2 pencil jammed neatly in the binding. Despite the fact he didn't care much for the stratgies Axen _practiced_, he valued the theory the guy preached. Somewhat similiar to Malin's with a dash of Paul Crayshen and a helping of Tevy Lateri. Split into multiples, keep the fighting in narrow areas as much as possible, and don't be afraid to pick up a gun if all else fails. He wondered for a second why if Axen had all these grand plans, the Captain just pereferred to rush straight on. Was he dependant on individual strength rather then collective? Maybe it dated as far back when the entire style was foun---

"Uh, excuse me?" Craig offered weakly as he stared at a man in his way. Human, about middle age he'd guess.

"Here." The human reached inside the large manillia folder under his arm and handed him something. "That's all you get from me, understand?"

"Thanks?" Craig looked up still confused.

"You're welcome." The human turned around and then moved his head to face Craig for a moment. "Tell your Mom her pastrimi is terrbile."

"Lord knows it. You _went _there? She's running a deli out of our house for crying out---" Craig didn't get to finish as the man walked off.

He looked down at the object again.

_Oh pink-eye. _He dropped the notebook and stared at it.

It was the same photograph he had found in the textbook a few months ago. Axen, Michael and Meora walking...somewhere. He couldn't place it then, now he could.

History had to be playing a joke. There was no doubting the similitary. Sure the people were different but for all practical purposes...

It was him, Tails and Sora.

---

He was still mulling about at lunch.

"Hey man, you alright?" Tails sat down looking at him.

"Y-yeah."

"No you're not."

"I'm fine."

"You got hit with the sweet potato cassrole 5 minutes ago. You should've spooned it off your face into a bowl by now."

"Egh..."

"Let me remind you, sweet potato cassarole..." Tails pronnounced the three words slowly. "Okay, you're not drooling, about to explode or leaping over tables to get to the counter. What's wrong?"

Craig pushed the photograph towards him.

Tails looked down.

"Nice photo...Meora-Ka kinda stands out doesn't she?"

"You don't see it?" Craig looked up at him, asking in the most deadpan voice possible.

"You mean the Captain's serious need of dandruff shampoo? Yeah."

"Screw it." Craig took the photo back.

A horrific crashing sound came from behind the counters followed by several shouts.

"Get her!"

"Hey stop!"

"She took the pan. The whole freakin' _pan_!"

Sora bolted off, a glass pan full of orange goop raised abover her head. "It's mine, get it? Now be thankful I didn't nab the maple syrup too!"

She finally reached the table the other two were at, setting it down with a bit of ceremony. "You owe me for this ear-boy!" She gave a feroicious noogie on Craig's head. "Huh? Huh? What'ya think?"

Craig looked up at her. "You're my friend. I don't want you to die."

"Uh...you know a thanks would work too." Sora backed up from him.

He turned towards Tails. "If she ever _did_, would we fight about it for the rest of our lives and constantly blame ourselves?"

"...You ate all that spoiled broccili again didn't you?" The kitsune looked concerned.

"C'mon just enjoy this stuff." Sora lifted up a spoon covered in the cassarole. "Ya know what I had to do to get this? I had to..."

"I'm not hungry Sora." Craig sighed, got up, and walked away.

"...fight off the rabid...hairnet men..." Sora finished slowly.

"What's wrong with you?" Tails sighed.

"He hates me doesn't he?"

"What?" Tails started to laugh. "What happened in there, get beaned in the head with a laddle?"

"I put him through hell. I always thought he just put up with it 'cause we were friends and all...I thought..." Sora put the spoon down letting it crash into the glass pan.

"Oh geez. Listen, the only person who knows you better then me is him, and even if he is being reflectively depressed, he's still loyal." Tails tried to reassure her. "I saw what was in that photo too. I just think it'd be healthier to ignore it."

"What photo? It's not from that time when we stuffed you into the dryer is it?"

"I REALLY want to forget that, my back didn't go back to normal for weeks."

"Hey, it got you invited to the annual kickball game."

"I was second base."

"You're both very ungrateful. I give and give and give and what do I get in return?"

"Dedicated lackeys who worship the ground you walk on?" Tails offered.

"But there are only two of you..." Sora whined.

"You know what? Just sit down and enjoy the cassarole. I think life just ignored you in favor of Craig."

"About due time I had a break." Sora stuck a spoon in the pan, flicking mush in her eye.

---

"It's just creepy, ya know? You think 'I'm never gonna end up like those jerks.' and then it just hits you. History shouldn't repeat. It's too depressing." Craig sighed. "I don't want to be like that. I know all three of us are stronger than..." He blinked. "Why," He pointed with a paw. "Are you about to hit me with a houseplant?"

"I dunno." Gil shrugged. "I'm bored."

Zen smacked him upside the head. "He came to us for some consoling spittlenose. You can hit him with the plant after he feels better."

"All right." Gil sighed putting the base of the pot down.

"So you got freaked out by this thing because you think it's running parellell?" Zen turned the conversation back on course.

Craig nodded. "I just don't want to end up like _they_ did. Captain Eterna and Michael-Ka aren't exactly on the best of terms and Meora's..."

Zen shrugged. "You got it two ways here. You can either shrug your shoulders, take what life throws at ya and Gil'll hit ya with the plant, or you can mull about it, become a recluse, and Gil'll hit ya with the plant."

"I hate you both. Very, very much."

"Right." Gil picked up the base again. "All done here?"

Craig very slowly took the plant of Gil's paws and threw it both the brothers, leaving the room as quickly as possible.

Zen wiped some topsoil off his headfur. "Why'd you let him take it?"

"Geez, I never thought he'd..."

"Defend himself?"

"No." Gil blinked a bit still shocked. "He's changing. It's weird...it's like...like..."

"He's maturing, and you're starting to think that you should too?"

"No, like I need to step things up a bit. I'm gonna need a trashcan, a baseball cap, and several festive blankets..."

Zen sighed. "Get out of the room."

"This is my dorm. Yours is right down the hall."

"Don't go in there either." Zen pushed him out and slammed the door shut.

---

"I don't care." Sharpear yawned.

"You're my Ka Master. You're supposed to." Craig tried showing him the photo again/

"You know what I do care about? You, making a position in the Battle Royale. We got two weeks. That's it."

"I don't care."

"You're my student, you're supposed to."

"You know what I do care about? Not turning into some kind of pawn for some sick warlord."

"For God's sake! You're not Axen or Mike alright! And I sincercely doubt you are the reincarnation of Meora. Just relax, it's a dumb photo! You don't want your friendship to break up! DON'T LET IT." Sharpear finally exploded at him.

"That's just the point! Do I have a freakin' choice?"

"It's history okay? Yeah it affects you but you don't have to repeat it. Just step outside of the stupid box." Sharpear suddenly swung his staff at him.

Craig blocked, both weapons meeting with a clang. "But that's just it. I can't just step out..."

"Then climb out." Sharpear swung again at the rabbit's head.

Craig rolled to one side and slashed out at Sharpear's legs. "You don't get it! I'm gonna fail no matter how hard I try. You can't deny history!"

Sharpear skipped over the staff, almost giving the image of an Irish dancer in the proccess. "Who the hell said you were part of history! Face it. You, me, we didn't even make the footnotes. If anything, we're the fineprint in the copywright notice. That's just how it is for some people. We don't got a purpose."

"But that's just wastefull! What's the point to it all if there's no reason?" Craig swung up at his teachers chin.

The blow connected, momentairly disorienting the dog. "Alright..." He shrug it off and started attacking Craig again. "So if you think there is a reason, what've ya got?"

"I don't have a clue." Craig held off again, moving into a more defensive position, the staff now close to his chest.

"What's the best thing you got so far?" Sharpear threw him off with his weight, breaking the defense and nearly impaling him in the process. "What keeps you living?"

Craig lifted himself up and dug in again, the staff still in the same position. "I got stuff I wanna do. I got people I wanna hang out with..."

Sharpear threw his weight into it again.

Flipping directly up using the staff as a base, Craig's oversized feet crashed into Sharpear's face, pushing the massive canine back and sending his staff spiraling.

"It's not that big of an issue really." Craig shrugged a bit, teetering from exhasution. "I just wanna rewrite history. Not become part of it."

"Hell." Sharpear fell flat on the grass. "The whole philisophical fighting thing? Bad idea. Sure it looked cool on paper, but...hell." He repeated again.

"Uh, you alright?"

"I don't know. How does a sycamore feel after being choked to death by a cauliflour stem?"

"_What_?"

"I was trying to avoid the elephant/mouse thing. Hell." Sharpear spat out the word a third time. "Just let me lie here for a few seconds."

"I'm going...back inside now." Craig backed up.

"Just shut up...shut up..." Sharpear continued to mull in disbelief.

---

Craig walked back inside the building still confused as to what was going on.

"Hey." Tails noticed him in the hallway and caught up.

"Hey."

"Over it?"

"Over it."

"Fine with me." Tails smiled. "Wanna go up to the library and make fun of Heidegger. Unanswerable question my tail...s" He added the 's' as an afterthought.

"Eh...No. I don't." Craig thought for a second. "Let's just find Sora and see if we can get anything to...holy crap and a half did I turn down a whole freakin' _pan_ of sweet potato cassarole!"

"I warned her it wasn't going to pretty, but Sora ate the whole thing. She's got a stoma---"

"Oh, I'm going to do something bad to her. Rest assured." Craig gritted his teeth and then shook it off. "But for now let's just get her, go to the cafteria and then...I don't know we'll see what happens from there."

"Aw, is someone finally accepting life for what it is?"

"Shut your mouth Prower. I've just decided I can handle a few more slugs to the gut, that's all."

Tails punched him in the stomach.

"I was speaking figurat---tavat." Craig managed to get out holding his stomach.

"Yeah. I know." Tails smiled.

He barely saw the footpaw make contact with his face.

* * *

_RETROSPECTIVE_

_Or how I learned to stop procrastinating, sit down and type_

_

* * *

_

Yeah, long time, not enough updates, live with it.

Okay now that that's out of the way...

This chapter came out strange. Really strange. I had no intention of this focusing on Craig whatsoever, but somehow, it just _did_.

Now when I look at it, it seems like Craig has actually become the most dynamic character in the story. Looking back I can actually trace him opening up more to Tails and Sora, foregoing the bland personality for some sort of edge underneath the blandness. I still haven't figured out what it is, but he's starting to seem more real to me then he has in the past.

Hey look, Vale is a human! And he's not (that) evil! Wonderfull.

So...yeah. Wing Commander III has Mark Hamil with a moustache. Nobody cares because Orgin's gone now and any hope for the series to continue is dead in the water.

Yet another reason why I hate EA.


	26. Sincerity's Overdone

Static.

That's all they could see was static.

And then...

An image of a foxgirl's face filled the entire monitor.

"The name's Sora Lateri!" She breathed, fogging up the screen. "And I'm..."

"GET AWAY FROM THERE!" She was drug off almost instantly by an unseen voice.

* * *

"This thing is so flippin' awesome!" Brent blew a silver whistle in Salah's ear. "I feel like some sorta deranged gym teacher!" 

"Give me that, you're under oath not to generate any noise past 114 decibels remember?" Salah snatched it away from him.

"I was nowhere NEAR that wall when it collapsed."

"I know. That was the problem." Salah wiped off the whistle and blew into it catching the attention of the crowd in front of her. "Alright guys, listen up. You've got the Battle Royale in about a week and a half and the Ta'Ka have decided to forego your remaining two Drills to set up this little exercise. Up until now almost all of your stuff has been based on individual interaction, and limited teamwork. While this may seem the entire point of the Battle Royale..."

"We're gonna go ahead and ruin the suspense for ya." Brent piped up. "Every year some kinda twist is thrown in. It can range from your footpaws being tied together, to being stuffed in an underground tunnel. In short, that's why no one really wins. It takes a lot of effort, teamwork and an almost unanimous decision by your friends to get you to the top of this thing."  
"That's why we convinced the Ta'Ka to let us go through with this." Salah nodded "These 3 Ka Groups are going to simulate Guard Wing, on a much smaller scale of course. I'll be your acting 'Captain' for this exercise. My name's Salah Eterna for the few of you who don't know me. My specialties lie more on the scientific side. but don't think I can't spin a staff. My pal here's..."

"Brent Allenworth Crayshen." Brent tipped his hat. "I just like to say hello to all of ya who haven't seen me, and in case I DO know you, I'd like to thank you for making my life a living hell. Specialty in RPGs, although I enjoy a good point 'n click or two, and some of the more unique platformers. Klonoa's kinda nea---" Salah walloped him in the face stopping him.

"He'll be the acting 'High Chief." She explained.

"That makes me sound important but I'm really kind of a go between." Brent offered cheerily.

"Please try to take him seriously as hard as it may be."

"Bah." Brent brushed the comment off.

"Actually this brings us to one of the most important parts. Both of us will be addressed with a 'ma'am' or 'sir'. When talking about us, you will use our titles not our names. Anyone who is found in violation of this, will fail the exercise on the grounds of insubordination. The other thing we need to do now is appoint 3 Chiefs that'll represent you to us. The names've already been decided by both of us. Trask Amarik, Craig Ias, and Zen Lateri will be serving as chiefs. The same rules apply to them, do not call them by name unless we've officially declared you 'off-duty', refer to their title when speaking of them, and above all else show them proper respect."

"For instance, do not say your Captain, 'Is about as fun as a bran muffin', although it may be tempting." Brent pointed out.

Salah slashed him in the face.

"And do NOT kick your Captain in the stomach." Brent hissed kicking Salah in the stomach.

The customary almost daily fight to the death between the two broke out.

Unfortunately for them it was at this point the students of Ka Groups 12, 13, and 14 stopped paying attention.

* * *

"I can't agree with you. Sterling doesn't hold a candle to Bradbury." Tails folded his arms. 

"What are you talking about? Who's Bradbury? You came up to me and started arguing with yourself 20 minutes ago." Zen backed up.

"I was trying to be normal. You know, start a conversation and all that."

"No, no. You can't just walk up and start an argument. Ask me about the weather."

Tails looked at him. "Wouldn't it be cool if it rained dirt?"

"Yeah...I mean no! I mean how the weather is. Say it 'How is the weather?'"

"Why? I know perfectly well how the weather is."

"You're looking for the other person's opinion."

"But..." Tails stopped. "You said not to start an argument."

"Who's starting an argument?"

"Well if the person's perception of the weather differs from my own..."

"How can it differ? It's the freakin' weather!"

"Then why am I looking for their opinion?"

"Because...it's an icebreaker."

"By affirming something we both already know? That's like saying: I have two eyeballs, do you?"

"Yeah, but this is...sorta...normal." Zen got a confused look on his face. "I think." He grabbed another student next to him by the shoulders. "Quick! How's the weather? Is that normal?"

"Um...uh..." The student started to sweat. "Sir! The weather is sorta murky with several moments of sun mostly being blocked by clouds!" He saluted.

"Er..." Zen let go and turned around. "This 'chief' thing is gonna take some getting used to."

"Well if an old scaller like you's gone rusty in the staff then the rest of us'll be spinning on our own heads before the nights up." Sora suddenly burst herself into the conversation.

"What...the...hell..." Zen started.

"It's 'Wing' slang. I thought it'd be appropriate. This way I can make fun of you and not violate any of the rules." Sora flashed a quick peace sign. "I'm smart like that."

"No you're not." Tails smirked.

"Nope." Sora thawcked him on the head and turned back to Zen. "Anyways, sir. I think you better work out the problems between those two up there before they kill each other." She pointed to the carnage at the front of the group. Brent currently was stepping on Salah's head, while his nostrils were nearly getting torn off by her left paw.

"Uh...hold up!" Zen rushed forward.

"You're really enjoying this aren't you?" Tails looked at the foxgirl a bit amused.

"I'm not making a quick buck for this, I'd rather be twiddling my paws." Sora grumbled.

"Wait." Tails thought for a second. "You don't like this it all and you want to do something else."

Sora nodded. "I've done stuff like this with the REAL Wings before. This is just pathetic. And I think it's weird that Crai..." She noticed someone looking at her. "That Chief Ias got his appointment." She recovered quickly and leaned over to whisper in Tails' ear. "Watch your mouth. There's a ton of people here who would love to see both of us fail."

"Noted." Tails nodded in affirmation.

"Anyway, isn't it weird that 'Chief Ias'" She seemed to spit out the title in half-laughter. "Got assigned to be a chief and you didn't?"

"Sorta grateful on that one actually. Besides Craig's actually a pretty good strategist."

"Ah well. I guess it's just gonna be you and me bud. Two brave soldiers, fighting for a cause they both believe in..."

"Our GPA?"

"...All the time being pursued by their enemies, renegades to the very end, the brass can't do anything about us!"

"Yes they can."

"You're gonna love the mercenary life Prower. Bad food, crowded tents, knowing that the guy you fought today could be your ally tomorrow if he pays you more...it's great stuff."

"I'm not staying on you know. The second that 'Battle Royale' thing is up so is this semester, and that means I'm leaving."

"Yeah, I kinda wanted to talk with you about that." Sora looked at him. "How would you like to stay on for a second semester?"

"Forget it. It's hell enough as it is."

"I'm serious. It's not gonna be any fun without you." Sora whined.

"I've got somewhere I've gotta be Sora." Tails smiled a bit.

"Where?"

"That's just it. I don't know yet."

"I don't get it."

"I know ya don't." Tails winked. "That's the beauty of it. I don't get it either. Where we end up, we end up."

Sora shook her head. "What a life...I don't think you get how lucky you have it."

"The food ranges from good to bad, you end up sleeping in the rain when you can't find shelter, and sometimes the plots you're thrown in get uber-confusing if not downright stupid. Trust me, the life of a traveling hero isn't perfect."

"That's not what I meant...you've got someone looking out---" Sora stared at the ground for a second. "Never mind."

"...Hey Sora."

"What?"

"What would you think of raining dirt clods?"

"Yeah." The foxgirl recovered rubbing her paws together deviously. "Think of the pain I could cause my enemies."

"Tiny stings coupled with dirt stains?"

"You ever try to get them out of jeans?" She laughed evilly.

"This is gonna be a weird week isn't it?" Tails put a paw up to his head.

"Of course not, you're with me." Sora patted him on the back. "Now let's go throw Cume in a tree."

"Why?"

"Duck...in a tree." She looked at him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Sweet merciful beans forget the week, just get me through tonight." Tails rolled his eyes.

Another blast of the whistle came through disrupting the conversation. Brent and Salah were teetering as they resumed their speech.

"Sorry about all that. Anyway, we managed to cram every Ka Group into this thing. See that cameraman there?" She pointed an attendant in a orange suit desperately trying to clean his camera's lens. "That's live feedback to the Academy. Too much damage and you're 'dead' and worse...you've failed. We've got 214 opponents each simulating a different era of the Ka Masters. Be happy, we were lucky enough to grab the 'Glory Era' moniker." Salah smiled a bit.

A cheerful buzz hit the students. Now THAT was something to live up to.

"Glory Era?" Tails looked at Sora.

"Geez, you read more then I do, you should've got that. Glory Era's back in the late 70's to early 80's. Guess who was captain?"

"Wait. Wasn't it...?"

"Bingo. Paul Crayshen himself."

"Ya know," Tails looked forward. "I don't think our High Chief's very concerned with living up to an image like that."

"He can't live up to an image of rotten swimming trunks."

"Why would anyone want to?"

"Er..." Sora scratched her head. "It was supposed to be a creative analogy insult."

"Tell ya what. You don't cause massive pain to anyone this week and I'll give you a crash course in absurdity."

Sora's face fell. "What about little stabs of pain?"

"No."

"Fine. It better be worth it Prower."

"Of course it won't." Tails patted her on the back. "I'll just be making you dumber."

"I could talk to you for half an hour and get the same results." Sora mumbled folding her arms in a huff.

* * *

"Good Lord, they can't even march." Salah slapped her forehead. 

"So? Neither can we." Brent yawned continuing the awkward pace at the front of the legion of students.

"So we're gonna get whipped by the others. You know pops talked Mike into leading a group?"

"Bet he loves that. How much cash is he forking over?"

"More than he ever bothered to give me. I suppose that's what gave me my sensible spending record though."

"You just admitted to being cheap."

"Eh, yeah." Salah shrugged, her armor clinking a bit as she did. "It's better then your method of saving 50 bucks and blowing it all on 10 dollar shovelware. That's just weird. You're cheap and wasteful at the same time."

"It's an art." Brent smirked. "Now, we've got what? About 6 or 7 groups to face down?"

"Roughly. The idea is just to score high enough during this week."

"Right...but um...if that's the case, moving in one giant group's a pretty easy target ya know?"

"Splitting up would just make 'em easier to pick off. Bad idea."

"No, relatively smart idea. Send 2 small groups ahead of the main body, for lookout purposes. Keep the main body but split into squads, in case we're attacked from the rear. That's pretty basic movement."

"Oh." Salah blew her whistle. "Chief Ias!"

"Um, I'm right behind you Captain." Craig jumped up trying to get her attention.

"You're opinion on splitting up?"

"Send 2 small groups ahead of---" Craig started. Salah slapped her forehead.

Brent stuck his tongue out at her. "Basic movement."

"Shut it. Ias, go deliver the orders to the other two Chiefs. I want results in 20 minutes."

"Yes ma'am." Craig saluted smartly and dashed off.

"Here comes the good part." Brent smiled.

"What'ya..." Salah winced as the sounds of panic hit her like a mallet.

"Move it! C'mon!"

"We said formation, you can formate can't you?"

"Er, Zen that's not a word."

"Shut up. ear-boy. I'm a Chief too."

"You're both morons. Look the rest of you know what to do. Basic movement."

"SIR!" The crowd broke out into simultaneous salute as they scattered.

"Basic movement." Salah spat out quietly to herself.

* * *

"You're gonna stick to me like mold on cheese aren't you?" Tails looked behind himself as he tried to break up into a group, Sora following behind. 

"Like I said it's no fun without you. C'mon, let's stay in the main body."

"You don't want scouting duty?"

"That's lame and wayyy too much work for my tastes. If we hang out here, we can watch most of the fun. Besides you know just as well as I do that those scouting parties are gonna get hit first."

"Yeah, but it's needed. It's basic movement. Wonder what took us so long to break into it?" Tails mused for a second.

"Can't help that now. Let's find a squad." Sora threw an arm around him and dragged the fox to a random group. "We're the ones who threw that duck up a tree a few hours ago. We don't actually want to join you, we just want you to know..." She narrowed her eyes. "That we're looking at all of you."

Satisfied with scaring the group well into their senior citizen years, she dragged Tails off again to another gathering and patted him on the back. "You're up for this one."

Tails rolled his eyes but cleared his throat and started speaking nonetheless. "Ever consider the true nature of what you're doing? If you keep going like this, all of you are going to die making absolutely no impact on the world or universe. You're simply the slime that makes up the bigger slime that is the world. Congratulations."

"Nice." Sora nodded as they walked away, noting the depression spreading amongst their victims. "You wanna do a collaboration for the third one?"

"Sure."

They walked up to yet another group, although at this point several people were distancing themselves from the duo.

"Hi. I'm a delusional foxgirl with dreams of destroying Antarctica for no good reason." Sora introduced herself.

"Forgive her she has issues. She doesn't see the point that Antarctica is useless and it'd be much more fun to destroy, oh say...Greenland. What do you guys think?" Tails looked at them.

"Total victory." Sora cheered as their latest targets ran for their lives.

"...You really DO dream of destroying Antarctica don't you?"

"Eh, the desire comes and goes.."

"You realize no one's going to group with us."

"We don't need 'em and you know it."

"What's your problem with people?" Tails looked at her. "I mean I hate this planet just as much as you do but I'm willing to put up with it..."

"And I'm willing to morph it into my own image." Sora shrugged. "Nothing's ever gonna get done if you don't start."

"Nothing's ever gonna get done, because people refuse to change."

"I'll make them." Sora mentioned simply and looked ahead. "Okay, back into formation I guess. Your marching really sucks. Left, right, left, right..." She started pushing Tails along.

"That sounds awfully familiar you know." He broke free and started stumbling along in bad rythym.

"What'ya mean?"

"Isn't making people change exactly what your dad's trying to do?"

"He wants to manipulate people into doing his own bidding, setting up a super-state that would change the world yes, but essentially put him and his cronies in ultimate military control."

"And you?"

"I'll just beat people up until they listen to me." The vixen put her paws behind her head as she kept up a perfectly timed march.

Tails shook his head. "You need to break away from the whole anarchy thing."

"Why?" Sora's face turned into a frown.

"If you want a truly dog eat dog world, what's gonna stop someone stronger than you from biting your head off someday?"

"You." She winked and swatted him upside the head.

"Hey, I already told you I'm not staying around here forever." Tails winced in pain, rubbing his head.

"No, but then again neither am I. Who knows? Once I'm Ta'Ka, we'll probably bump into each other again."

"Yuck. Stop talking like we're going to opposite ends of the earth." Tails stuck out his tongue in disgust.

"Well, we sorta are."

"Not right now we aren't. Let's enjoy the painful march."

Sora titlted her head and looked at him for a second. "Me and Craig are the only real friends you have outside of Sonic aren't we?"

"There's Cume, Zen and Gil..."

"You know what I mean."

"I just prefer quality over quantity that's all." Tails smiled at her. "Besides you two are the only ones who aren't completely repulsed by me."

"You know, I bet humans think you're cute."

"What makes you say that?"

"They love fluffy things. You're REALLY fluffy. Plus the whole second tail thing isn't a big deal to them."

"Yeah, I know they don't have tails. But you know what? That makes them really easy to push over." Tails laughed and broke into thought. "So I'm fluffy 'eh? And that automatically qualifies me as 'cute'?"

"Among other things."

"What other things?"

"Your eternally doomed state as an eternal underdog."

"Wait. I'll always be an underdog?" Tails' ears fell. "You really think that?"

"Probably."

"Well thanks for that. You know, I've only been working my entire life to shred that image."

"And that's what's cute. You have this nice sorta hopeless hope hovering about you."

"Pft." Tails spat a bit. "You've got it too."

"Only after hanging around you for so long." Sora smiled. "I guess it really hasn't been that long has it?"

"About eight months..." Tails counted on a paw.

"Sorta feels like three years. I guess that's what's gonna suck when it's all over." The vixen sighed.

"I told you to stop that! I don't wanna hear another word about leaving okay?"

"...Would you hate me if I told you something?"

"More than I do know?" Tails offered jokingly.

"If you hadn't come here I would've dropped out."

"Oh no, don't start pinning all your hopes and dreams on me. You know I hate it when you get sappy." Tails rolled his eyes.

"Less then 3 months here and my grades were already contradicting the laws of mathematics. I think some of them were only hypothetical. Negatives aren't supposed to go that low you see. But both you and Craig gave me a perfect excuse to be here. To tell you the truth, I think I'm already finished academically. I just like to hang out with both of ya...or you know, beat ya senselessly." Sora laughed.

"You're living the dream Lateri." Tails smirked.

"You've got it nice right now yourself. Beautiful girl at your side, a 'dangerous' reputation amongst your classmates, grades at the top of the Group..."

"And the social life of dandruff."

"Please. What has this world ever done that was remotely good? When some huge disaster occurs we have to be manipulated by mass media in order to provide any support. No one trusts anyone, no one really cares about anyone." Sora's good mood self-destructed. "The truth is, is that people can't stand each other and will never be able to. End of story."

"You're not changing it that much are you? You're saying you can't stand the people who can't stand people? Isn't that some sort of ideological paradox?"

"You've read Satre." The foxgirl cleared her throat. "'Everything is born without reason, prolongs out of weakness and dies by chance.' That's how it's looking. You gonna tell me there's any hope for the future at all?"

They continued marching in silence for a second until Tails spoke up.

"Across my foundering deck shore, a beacon, an eternal beam. Flesh fade and mortal trash fall to the residuary worm. world's wildfire leave but ash."

"See? That's what I'm trying to sa--." Sora started before Tails interrupted her.

"And in a flash, at a trumpet crash, I am all at once what Christ is, since he was what I am, and this jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond.." He looked at her with a weak smile. "Is immortal diamond."

"What was...?"

"Gerald Manly Hopkins. 'That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and Of the Comfort of Resurrection. Normally I'm not so big on poetry. That, I like. Satre's a hack. Nietzsche saw it, we can't exist without God, yet he denied God, denying in fact his own existence. Too bad we know he existed. And although I really like Kafka, he falls in the same category denying any meaning to life, cutting out whatever hope we have and that made him dead wrong. Face it. Regardless of your views, you're hoping for something."

"Yeah? What?"

"For life to start." Tails turned around.

"Oh no, you're not going to end the conversation with a clever one-liner this time."

"Er...I think we've completely exploited the usefulness of it..."

"No, I'm going to sit down and argue this until my face---"

Salah's whistle blew and a ripple of information came down the columns.

"Scout groups are back! We've have confirmed enemy positions dead ahead! All formations break and prepare for combat!"

Sora stared up at the universe. "You think this is hilarious don't you?" She asked it.

Tails shrugged. "It probably does. It would explain your entire life."

"Shut your muzzle and let's break off. Stay close, this is gonna get messy." Sora buckled down, twirling her staff.

"Already been there." Tails stood ready to defend.

"Not at the center of it..."

* * *

There was the not so pleasant sound of several Ka Groups slamming into another. 

Chaos ensued.

* * *

"Damn!" Sora was knocked to the side. Quickly recovering, she flipped her opponent's staff into his face. Turning around she belted another in the stomach with her bare paw. "Hey Prower! Should we sweep 'em out?" Her voice could barely be heard over the confusion. 

Tails meanwhile had a few issues of his own. Mostly being assaulted from 4 sides. Jumping up to gain a little room he clobbered his assailant on the left and landed, running straight for his partner.

"No special tricks, no Long Swing, nothing. There's not enough..." He was knocked into her, as another group caught up.

"Cut out Drive. Go straight for it." Sora nodded, swinging her staff in a low arc managing to trip up several attackers at once.

"Fine." Tails kicked out to defend himself. Flipping himself back up he tail-swiped an enemy to the ground and spun the staff in a brilliant flourish, knocking another one them out cold.

The whistle blew again in 4 short blasts.

"To the right? That's not.." Sora tried to strain to see the front.

One low whistle blast followed. A note to disregard the last order followed by 2 short blasts and 1 long one.

"To the left!" Sora grabbed Tails by the neck, nearly choking him. "Well? Fly us out of here."

"I can't. There isn't enough room to make a running start. I'm not a helicopter, I need space or air." Tails managed to choke out.

"Then jump!"

"With you on my back? No offense whatsoever, but I don't care how much you weigh. I wouldn't make it." He managed to shake her off. "Just take a paw." He extended one to her, and jumped in the air, quickly twirling his tails enough to hover.

"Don't drag me!" He yelled down at her.

"I'm not!"

"Stop tensing up. Just relax. Don't grip that hard."

"I'm NOT."

The kitsune sighed tried to aim his tails downright in an effort to gain more height.

"Stop fanning me." Sora grumbled

"Be quiet." Tails gritted his teeth and tried to pull up. Just edging out of the crowd, he managed to gain some air and was able to distance himself vertically.

"Now you can hold on tight. I'd realllllllly suggest it, unless you wanna get trampled."

"Stuff it." Sora mumbled her grip tightening again.

"How's it looking? Can you get a clear idea of what's going on?"

"Not bad. I think we're winning this one." She called back. "Can't get everything crystal clear though. How high can you take us?"

"It's not a matter of height now, it's a matter of endurance." Tails swallowed. "I hope you know how much effort it takes to keep this speed up."

"So what, you'll have sore butt muscles in the morning?"

"Don't laugh. It's painful. It's doing a number on my back too."

"Suck it up." Sora looked up at him and smiled. "Besides, I thought you loved the sky."

"As much as I would love to have one of those reflective philosophical moments right now, we either need to get somewhere safe, or join the attack on the left. Does it look like we're needed?"

"Nope." Sora shook her head, making herself dizzy as the wind beat past it. "They're pretty clear in that. Hey! Try to stay in the cameraman's view. I don't want the higgys to think we've botched the scalling."

"Will you stop with the stupid slang?" Tails shook his head in frustration

* * *

"The following students are retired from the exercise..." One of the attendants following the Ka Group began to read a list of names off echoing his voice with a megaphone, as both groups solemnly lined up for post-battle inspection. 

The 'Glory Era' had one a heavy victory. Essentially every one of their opponents had failed.

"Not bad guys." Brent smiled at the gathered students. "Not bad at all."

"Would've been better if our superiors hadn't nearly gotten us surrounded!" A random voice piped up. "Why move to the right? We would've been pinned against 'em!"

"That wasn't my decision." Brent's face immediately turned into nothing more then a very dissatisfied frown. "Thankfully, the Chiefs and I were able to correct that mess before anything happened."

"Then what's up with our Captain?" Another voice piped up. "Don't tell me she's that inept!"

"You. Join those guys heading back. You just blew it." Brent pointed at speaker but addressed it anyway. "Captain Eterna, and you know who I mean by that, is not inept. She merely saw a different side of the battle and..." Brent looked behind himself for a second. "Okay, nevermind she's nowhere near me. Look, I know it was bad. But you start distrusting your leaders and the whole thing will fall apart. The Chiefs are taking care of most of our 'rewrites'. If things get bad..." He stopped. "Well, let's just hope things don't get bad. Anyway, we get a half-hour rest and we're back to marching." Brent squinted a bit. "And Lateri, Prower? You two out there?"

"Yes sir." Tails and Sora's voices rose up from the crowd with only the slightest hint of laughter in them.

"Nice trick you guys pulled out there. You just became our primary scouting unit." Brent saluted the group. "All hands at attention!"

The students saluted sharply.

"At ease!" Brent broke it and walked off.

* * *

Tails flew out several miles away from the crowd, again holding Sora by the paws. 

"See anything?" The poor kitsune gasped.

"Not a thing." Sora looked up at him. "Need a rest?"

"If you don't mind." He nearly cried, landing awkwardly on the ground. "We had to be all clever." He layed himself out.

"Don't start spinning on your head before the night's over. We're raking in the cash compared to them." Sora whistled a short tune and yawned.

If the foxgirl was at all normal, the sentence would have been:

"Don't worry about it. We've got it easier then them right now."

"Talk like a normal person please. I'm tired and you're starting to make sense. That can't be a good thing."

"I know." Sora smirked. "I just like torturing you."

"...You really do hate everybody don't you?"

"I always thought of it as misplaced aggression mixed with deep, caring, affection." Sora corrected him.

"Why do you always do stuff like this?"

"What?"

"Who are you trying to impress?" Tails sat up. "I hate to say it, but you're parents aren't interested."

"Not funny."

"Not trying to be." Tails remained stoic. "You don't have to prove yourself to someone as evil as them."

"Mom's not evil." Sora shot back. "And for that matter, Dad really isn't either."

Tails eyes grew. This was a first.

"He's just...got some ideas I don't agree with."

"He disowned you for being a girl!" Tails appealed.

"What?" Sora asked again with a confused look on her face. "Where the hell did you here that story? Cume?"

"Try Craig, who got it from Zen apparently."

"He doesn't HATE me."

"You hate him."

"Yeah, I do." Her eyes nearly burned with rage. "Do you know what that bastard did?"

"Not really. Everyone's also so vague about it."

"My Mom..." Sora started. "You know how I am, right?"

"Yeah."

"My Mom...Kaze Lateri? Heard of her?"

"No I...wait...Kaze? If you're not Japanese what's with the names?"

"Weird family history. I don't really understand it. Anyway, well you know how I am. They, I mean the soldiers in the Wings, always told me that Mom was exactly like me when she was signed up. Same...uh...assertive personality."

"Right." Tails nodded. He could see that. He could _really_ see that.

"At least they always told me that." Sora's voice went quiet. "Mom's...what's the right phrase here? A broken china doll? A whimpering shell who can't stand up for herself? A moronic mess of tears?" She tried her very best to be angry but Tails knew they're wasn't any hatred behind those words.

"Me and my Dad always got along before..I guess before I was about 10. He was always showing me off in front of the Wings. He was Captain for a couple of years ya know?" Sora smiled. "A really, really nice couple of years. Anyway, one day I guess he had a bad experience or something. He came home in a huff and Mom..."

"He didn't..." Tails face grew worried.

"He never touched her." Sora assured him. "He wasn't...isn't..._physically_ abusive...he just yelled."

"Yelled?"

"Actually he said some things. Some things I really don't want to repeat. Accused her of some things, called her some things..." The vixen winced. "And of course she sat there, not being able to take it, just breaking down more and more...geez, no one should have that much salt in them. I almost thought she was going to cry blood after a while."

"She just took it all?"

"Not saying so much as a word. Just simpering. Then came the killer blow. He..." She exhaled slowly for a second. "I want you to know, I'm Karastil Lateri's daughter. It's backed up in photos, it's backed up in my birth certificate, it's backed up in my DNA. Understand?"

"What'ya mean?"

"He claimed he wasn't my real dad. He accused her of having an affair with...get this...with Michael Banelan."

"WHAT?"

"It's a lie. A complete lie. Don't think I've done research on my own. Believe me, my Mom stayed...is staying...faithful. Always has been. Of course I didn't really know who Michael-Ka was really. When I was asking around, I caught the whole O-Zero legend but everyone thought the guy was dead."

"So what happened?"

"At this point Mom wasn't much more then a living corpse. I picked up the whole thing of course. Didn't confront him right away, could hardly believe it myself. That's when I starting asking questions to people...and...well this wasn't the first time he had done something like that to her. Apparently before I was born, while I wasn't around, hell maybe while I was around I probably just ignored it, he always attempted to hurt her verbally. That assertive personality? Straight out the window after a couple years. He wore her down to a nub."

"Dear God." Tails meant it as a genuine prayer of mercy.

"I couldn't stand it. My Dad and I probably got along and all, but it was my Mom who really taught me who I am. Simpering or not, I'm still me because of what she taught me. Needless to say I wasn't pleased and I finally got the guts to talk to him about it."

"And?"

Sora sighed again. "The talking turned to yelling. The yelling turned into cursing. The cursing turned into verbal abuse. I wasn't about to give it up like Mom did though. By everything granted to me by God, I was going to argue back every last thing I could. I'd volley it right back in his face. I had him beat after a while. It was all a war of attrition. Just with words. So he just took his other option and threw me out of the house. I managed to get a hold of my aunt and uncle, and they put me up for a couple of years until I could get enrolled here."

"So what're you in for it then?" Tails let the question fly again.

"I've said it before. I'll tell you when you tell me why you're here."

"I'm here..." Tails started and thought for a second. "I'm here because I'm a jerk. Because I couldn't accept the fact my brother was watching out for me. I wanna prove myself, but the reason I'm here? Because I wanted to try and show off."

"Don't be so down on yourself. Suck it up and tell the truth." Sora waved him off.

"That's part of it really..." Tails paused. "But, um...it was mostly cause I thought I'd..."

_Shut up. Shut up, SHUT UP! _His mind tried to hold his mouth shut.

"...Meet more people like you."

His face immediately turned 11 different shades of red, almost going for dark orange.

"Heh...Notmuchlucktherehuh? Yeahpeoplearejerks. Bigjerks. Can'tbelievehowjerkyjerkscanbe" He rushed at Mach 4, nearly spitting out his teeth in the process.

"Yeah..." Sora laughed a little. "About that? I already knew. The whole freakin' campus already knows."

"Knowswhat?" He started to choke on his spit.

"How thickheaded do you think I am? I mean, I know I'm stunningly attractive..."

"Cute." Tails risked.

"What?"

"I wouldn't go as far to say stunningly attractive." In his mind, he could see already see her decapitating him for this. "But you're cute."

_AHHH! WAKE UP!_ His brain screamed _STOP HALLUCINATING! GET OFF WHAT DRUGS YOU'RE ON! RESTORE SAVE STATE 3!_

Sora was completely taken aback.

"I want Craig to have my book collection. Brent-Ka can have my Gamegear, and would you mind sending the small remains of my body to Sonic?" Tails squeaked.

"You little runt," She was nearly shaking. "You were serious weren't you?"

"Um, well...Craig thinks the same thing."

_Great. You killed him too._

"You're just a friend, Sparks." She patted him on the back. "Both of you. But...thanks for that...I always thought people were just being nice whenever they said that. Now I know it's true."

"Why am I still on the physical plane?" Tails ventured to open one eye.

"I'm not that bad. Now if you did something horrible, like insult Tom and Jerry...you'd lose an eye...and several toes."

"This moment never happened?" Tails smiled extending a paw.

"Nope." Sora shook it firmly. "But I'll bring it back up as ammo one day."

"Pft. Just a friend 'eh? Please. Look at me. I'm buff."

"Like a feather pillow." Sora laughed. "And I never said you weren't my type."

Tails felt like he had just swallowed his right arm. "Merheh." He managed before fainting.

"You're pathetic." Sora doubled over in laughter.

* * *

"I just don't see why it's that important that's all." Zen yawned. "I mean, would it kill us to ask for another Captain?" 

"Uh, this is kind of a high profile exercise. That would cost us points." Brent tried to counter.

"So what?" Craig asked nibbling on one of his ears. "I could do with a slightly reduced GPA."

"We're all getting graded as one huge group anyway right?" Trask leaned back in a chair far too small for him.

"Yeah. Sort of. Kind of."

"It's just a prequel exercise." Zen put his head down on the small outdoor table. "It's not that big a deal."

"That's the thing. It kinda is." Brent sighed.

"So what? The Battle Royale is in a week, then the semester's over."

Brent banged his head against the table exactly three times. "That's this years' twist." He finally mumbled.

"What's this years' twist?" Craig slowly stopped chomping.

"This is it." Brent lifted his head and smiled weakly. "The camera feed? Every Ka Group in the school involved? Wasn't it obvious? This IS the Battle Royale."

* * *

RETROSPECTIVE 

I'm really tired

* * *

Finally! After 8 freaking versions of this stupid chapter, it finally comes out right. I hate it now, I've been staring at it too long. 

I feel bad about leaving you guys like this. What would you all say to more updates with shorter chapters? Mind you there'd be more chapters, and I have a general policy of quality over quanity, but it's getting out of hand. Tri-monthly (At this point, tetra-monthly) updates aren't working, that's for sure. Rest assured we are coming to the end...and of course I started working on concepts for the sequel, but I can't really WORK on it until I know how everything wraps up. Go figure.

I like that poem. Very much.

I also like Bradbury. I don't like Sterling. Cyberpunk puts me to sleep (Although Steampunk is a lot of fun, just cause it's, you know, historically incorrect.)

I'm still iffy on that last scene with Tails and Sora. Anyone hate it? Maybe it'll grow on me, I'm not sure.

Can't let my notes get too long...1:17 in the morning...be philisophical Brent, they're expecting you to be.

I hate you all.

(Note- Brent does not really hate you, he is merely tired and bored out of his skull at the same time. Please enjoy the hopefully not so long wait until the next update. Also keep a close eye on But Military Uprisings Are Worse, which will be revamped by next week. HUGE plothole there. Enjoy it while you can.)


	27. A Little Cereal with Your Serial

There was only one thing Brent really knew about discipline.

Hitting.

Sure it wasn't always the most humane method, and it did tend to cause undying hatred, but it was direct and simple and in some cases could easily be considered an act of compassion.

'Love Punch'...he'd have to remember that one.

It would be of course entirely stupid to hit Salah...at least in this mood she was in, normally he'd have no problem with it. But you don't hit sulking people, smack them upside the head maybe, but definitely not hit.

So now he had to try and be _forceful_ and _understanding_ at the same time. Two words that didn't exactly have starring roles in his vocabulary.

"Well.." He tried to clear his throat and failed miserably only blocking it more. "At least you didn't retreat..."

"Mph." Salah remained in her fetal position. Wearing her usual armor, she looked like a soup can with something furry in it.

"Fine. Let me put in blunt terms. You failed, you can try again." Brent shook his head furiously. "Wait no, I mean, you can do better...if you want to..."

"What exactly are you trying to do? Cheer me up, correct me, or make my head explode?"

"Sort of a mix of all 3." Brent sighed. Damnit, she was always like this. The first sign of things going wrong and you could be sure to see the Snobgirl in her soup can position until...well just Until.

"I managed to get the main body surrounded in less then 3 minutes, completely missed the fact that there was an escape route, and got of lot of kids kicked out of this exercise." She managed to lift her head for a second. "Do you know if this was real, that would mean they were dead?"

"Er..." Brent watched as her head crashed into her arms again. _Don't strain yourself Snobgirl._ He thought bitterly. "You're just not cut out for this stuff, ya know? May...I mean your Mom wasn't either..."

"And neither is pops, right?" She didn't look up.

_Geez, did she take classes on how to set up a mood using her head alone?_ Brent yawned a bit. "That wasn't your Dad's type of strategy. That was pure Salah-style chess and you know it. You're way too aggressive when it comes to war." He savored that bit of irony for a second and sighed. "You're gonna stay like this for a good long time aren't ya?"

"Keep the whistle." She summoned enough strength to wave him off.

"They need a leader. Do I look like one to you?"

"No, but you're a damned fine strategist aren't you?"

"Not at all, it was just an escape route. If you're really stuck on comparing war to board games then you need to think Go, not chess. Chess is pure politics, the pawns'll move why the higher ranking pieces just sit back and watch for most of the game. Go's a bit more militaristic. All the stones have the same rank and ya have to use 'em for winning territory not blindly going in and killing the whole crowd." Brent nodded solemnly.

Nifty! He was being all...all...analogic. Wait, he didn't use like or as, he was being metaphorical. _To hell with grammar._ He tried to fight the string of thought. _It always gets in the way of the words._

"So? What the hell do you even need me for?"

"To look good."

Salah's head went straight up this time. "What?"

Nice. Got her less scrunched up too.

"We need a puppet. You're the daughter of Axen Eterna, you're strong-willed...most of the time...and ya wear full-body armor 24/7." Brent shrugged and then stared at her. "Do you even own any shirts?"

"You want me to just stand there and pretend to give orders?" She ignored the question.

"Yeah. Just like most leaders in real life." Brent offered cheerfully.

"I have my pride you know."

"Not really. You sorta flushed it down the toilet in the last fight."

"Great. Thanks for that one, really. It helps." Salah rolled her eyes.

"So are you gonna just sit here and whine for 43 hours straight or something?"

"Bingo."

"You know what's sad? That I wasn't exaggerating."

"Neither was I."

"Like it or not, you're officially this group's captain. I can work with the Chiefs to get a sorta jury-rigged hierarchy goin' here, but like I said we need a mascot. If you don't show up out there, they'll have your head when we get back. Not to mention half your paycheck."

"Why should I care?"

"Because I need to mooch off that paycheck. I'm broke." Brent shrugged

"I hate everything about you." Salah spat at his legs.

"Yeah, I know that. It's not gonna make me go away." Brent smiled. "I doubt it ever will."

"Alright here's the deal. You stay away from me doing most of this thing, and I'll go out and act."

"Spiffy. In that case you might want to get out from under this tree, we're moving out in a few hours." Brent held a paw out.

Salah grabbed it and allowed herself to be pulled up. "Fine, but I mean what I said. You just say what you have to, to me and nothing else."

"When you're in these kinda moods there's nothing I wanna say to you anyway. Get over it." Brent shrugged again and turned to walk away. "Just one last thing?"

"What?"

"You're more of an idiot then me sometimes, ya know that?"

"You're begging to be made into catgut chili aren't you?"

Brent winked. "Now tell me that didn't cheer ya up a bit."

Salah lifted both eyebrows. "How on Earth did you manage that?"

"Easy. I gave you something _fun_ to whine about. So how 'bout instead of moaning over your own failures, step out there and run those guys until they're nothin' but potato skins."

"Fine, but the condition still stands. Come within 10 feet of me and I'll carve your brain out through your nose."

"Okay, you can tone it down now..." Brent backed up looking genuinely scared.

"Oh buddy you are in for quite a day. Don't blink or you'll miss it."

"How 'bout if I close my eyes and meow in fear?"

"You'll want to."

"Good to have ya back Snobgirl."

"Really?"  
"No." Brent squeaked running away in terror.

* * *

It almost shocked the students. The Academy had put forth an honest attempt at being prepared for this. Trucks had recently arrived carrying food, disposable dishes, and even a few trash cans. What didn't shock them was the variety of food.

"We're all supposed to march on several bowls of Captain Crunch? You had us come back from a nice peaceful scouting mission for this?" Tails let out a loud sigh as he stared at a box. "We could've been eating a couple pounds of jerky or something..."

"Stuff it. First of all, it was getting boring out there. Second of all it's CAP'N Crunch. You're missing the slang here." Sora picked up a box and squinted at it for a second. "Is he British?" She suddenly pulled from nowhere.

"What?"

"It's that weird wig thing. And he IS a naval officer."

"The uniform's blue, Sora. I guess he could have been in the Continental Army..."

"So the guy's some sort of time-travelling do-gooder?" Sora scratched her head. "Or is he just immortal?"

"It could be he's just wearing blue because the back of the box is red. You know to make it appealing."

"What's so appealing about the age of sail anyway? Kids always want to run around and be pirates. Hooray for pillaging, murder and general non-goodery."

"That's an easy one. It's a denial of authority. Ya gotta love the freedom that comes with that. This guy here represents that spirit of freedom...or just a really bland cereal that sorta tastes like the air in a public bathroom..." Tails reeled back. "I never cared for this stuff. And what's with the cereal pieces? Are these supposed to be treasure chests?"

"Wait, then what is Count Chocula supposed to represent? The demonic power of chocolate?"

"That has got to be the WORST branch of the occult ever."

"Fear the chocolate demons! Banished long ago by the patron saint of dentistry, they have returned to reek their sugary havoc amongst us mortals once more!" Sora yelled jetting out a fist into the air.

"No, no, no." Brent walked by. "Chocolate demons would melt in Hell. It'd be pointless."

"Er, chocolate aliens then?"

"Wouldn't the radiation in space kill 'em?" Brent scratched his head.

"Oh..." Sora thought for a second. "I've got it!"

"Well the only thing left is..." Brent perked up.

"Chocolate zombies!" They both finished and gave each other a quick high five.

Tails shook his head. A few months ago he would have said something to the degree of 'You two scare me.' and edge away one paw at a time. At this point he had completely stopped caring and had accepted stupidity from his colleagues as a day-to-day event

But then again, this was _collaborative_ stupidity with two of the field's greatest experts involved. He almost grimaced. It was bad enough to have Brent and Sora in the same school day, let alone right next to each other. They really were scaring him.

He started to edge away one paw at a time.

"Nuh uh." Brent motioned for him to come back. "Listen you two need to report in..."

"Lots of dirt. A few trees, some grass...maybe a couple rocks, they could've been stones." Tails shrugged. "That's about it."

"So you didn't do any actual scouting? You know, track movements, keep an eye out for large noticeable groups of soldiers...just sort of YOUR JOBS?"

"We tried for the first few hours." Sora yawned. "But then gave up when we realized we just didn't care."

"Yeah, I've got every right to fail you now."

"Would ya please?" The foxgirl looked up at him. "I really wanna just go back to the Academy and sleep or something."

"Bring a Nomad and a copy of Phantasy Star II next time, I don't wanna hear it." Brent sighed.

"A better system sure." Sora shrugged. "But the battery life still sucked subwoofers."

"It's the principle of the thing. A portable Genesis is about a thousand times more valuable then any 8-bit contrap--" Brent began.

"Alright, you two made your point, neither of you have functioning brain cells." Tails snapped the conversation in half and turned to face Brent. "We're not expert trackers, we did pick up a bit of the most traditional stuff. Broken twigs, upset dirt, etcetera to infinity."

"We did?" Sora looked at him.

"Well, I did."

"You mean you actually _scouted_?" Her jaw nearly dropped. "I didn't know people could actually do that in real life."

_That's one thing that hasn't changed._ Tails smirked inwardly to himself. The foxgirl had a responsibility to herself to not show her intelligence. If anything she had probably picked up more information from that whole mess then he had. It was just too bad he would never be able to get it out of her. He tilted his head a bit as he stared at Brent. _What about him? It doesn't seem like he's used any significant part of his brain since 1934, and he wasn't even born then._ It's the hat. Tails realized. That stupid outdated red pancake on his head. Why wear it at all? He had often heard rumors of Brent's extensive Big Band collection...was the guy really that obsessed with the past?

"Uh, Prower? You alright there?" Brent looked at him a little concerned.

Completely unable to control his mouth, Tails blurted out. "I hate that hat."

Brent blinked, a little shocked at what he had just heard.

Tails blinked, a little shocked at what he had just said.

Sora belched. She was still trying to get a burpish "Hello" but it was slow going.

"I really don't care what you think." Brent said slowly.

"I don't think I really care," Tails blinked again "That you really don't care what I think."

For a brief moment the same thought flashed through both their minds.

_How much do I really know this guy?_

It felt like a thousand years.

* * *

"We move slowly." Michael explained to his high chief. "We won't rush things and we'll end up on their tail before long."

"It's always that way with you isn't it?" The subordinate was of course Mason who wasn't exactly pleased to be in the exercise. He had volunteered, but in reality he hadn't had much of a choice considering Juro had baubled off somewhere. Mike knew the squirrel was just using him as a sort of "replacement Juro." No matter how much those two complained about each other, they were more like father and son then either one would ever admit.

That of course would make Mike the uncle. The mean, uncaring uncle who uses his nephew for his own evil whims. Might as well play up to the image.

"It's the only move that makes sense. Make sure the Chiefs get the idea. I want this to be as silent as possible. That's the whole point of a sneak attack." Michael nodded slowly. "I don't think they'd have any problems adapting."

It really was something of a shock to the Ka Groups under Mike's command. He was supposed to be dead or at the very least missing. His hero image was helping this too, the kids nearly fell over themselves trying to line up.

Mason was actually making a fantastic High Chief. In Mike's eyes he had fulfilled the basic three requirements: Make sure they get the point you're not some sort of go-between, even if you really are. Don't talk much except to the Chiefs and the Captain, leave the impression that you're too far above them for them to touch you, and most importantly, learn when it's your job to lead, the Captain needs a break every other day.

At least it was the philosophy he had always stuck to way back when.

_And if I actually would've stuck with it for just a couple years longer,, I'd be Captain right now._ He reminded himself. It didn't matter though, there was no he way he would have served under Karastil again even if it was only two years. The second Paul was out, so was he...

"Um, "Captain"?" Mason managed to make the attention-grabber sound confused and disdainful at the same time. "You don't really trust a bunch of kids to pull off some sort of super-strategy do you?"

"I do when they're fighting another bunch of kids. Errors on all sides." Mike yawned, his fangs glistening for a bit.

Mason scratched his ear with a solitary dewclaw. "And I suppose in the end everyone's going to slap each other on the back and talk about how great they served in the "Wings". There's a touching memory, 'Mom, Dad, I had a great time in the fake army, I only got pretend killed towards the end...' Geez, this is pathetic. When's the last time they had a REAL Battle Royale?"

"You mean the one you won?"

"Sweet acorns, no! That was just cramming us in a small room for a few days, clonk them over the head first and ya had it. This..." The squirrel breathed in. "This just reeks of too much _creativity._"

"It was Brent and Salah's idea. You have to admit when those two actually work together the results are great. Horrifyingly stupid in a completely different sense, but still great." Mike laid himself out on the grass.

_How long has it been since you've done this?_

He blinked for a second. What a weird thought. It was just grass.

"It's itchy." He spoke out loud mostly to himself. "And it feels like I'm lying on shreds of wax paper."

"All right down there Jethro? Want me to fetch you a good 'ol straw hat and a banjo? Maybe a blade of onion grass to chew on?" From above, Mason's figure looked like a perfect shilloute as he delivered the usual sarcasm.

"Onion grass..." Michael mumbled to himself and sat straight back up as if he were clockwork. Hell, he might be. It felt like a music box had gone off in his head. "Onion grass! Lord, I haven't chewed a piece of that in even longer!"

This was too much. Here he was acting like a cub again while the kids under his command were playing like they were adults.

"I'd do with listening to a banjo, not playing one, and I don't really need a hat, it's not like it's sunny out." He thumped his footpaws on the ground excitedly.

"Like it's ever sunny in this entire miserable region to begin with." Mason mumbled.

The music box stopped as Michael took a look around him

Illinois may have been a overall empty place to live, but damnit, you grew too close to the emptiness. This place just had too many...too many...THINGS. The trees screamed down at you, the moss tried to pretend like it could glow, it looked like something out of an amusement park, as if some bigwig had said: 'You know what forests look like? I don't either, let's design one.'

Mike slowly started to catch on. "It's not all that itchy." he breathed slowly starting to stand up. "It's not all that waxy. It's not..."

"It could be astroturf for all I care." Mason kicked at the wolf's legs. "Now stop rolling around with the ants and let's move the kiddies out."

Michael nodded and began to walk back, Mason following just a few steps behind. He understood now what he was feeling lately, the thing that had bummed him out for the past few weeks.

For the first time since he was 14, he was feeling homesick.

It was a little hard to believe. He had always thought 'homesick' just meant your family. Talk with them a bit, hell, travel with your younger brother, there was no real love lost. This was a special type of homesickness, it may have been the first time he had ever thought:

_I want to smell some real dirt._

* * *

Doing the long millennium, five individual things happened all within the span of about a minute.

1. Salah marched into the camp and ordered a formation of lines, citing "A surprise inspection" for her reasons. In reality she was just pissed and wanted to yell at people.

2. In the rush to line up, Dane purposely tripped Craig who was still carrying a bowl of cereal.

3.Getting extremely mad, Craig walloped the ferret as hard as his hindpaws would let him.

4. Screaming bloody murder, Dane danced around like crazy knocking a trashcan over.

5. Hundreds of miles away, someone bit into an whole onion on a dare. He had terrible breath for the rest of the day.

All of these things however completely unphased Brent and Tails, both of whom had wordlessly agreed on an angry staredown competition. It did take some time for it to start however as trying to form the words 'Angry staredown competition' was a bit difficult using facial charades alone, but nonetheless they had started.

"Why..." Brent finally started to speak, without removing his gaze, "Are we doing this?"

"Because it's either we keep doing this, or we get pulled into the whole stupid chain of events going on around us." Tails kept the stare up also.

The expected chain reaction had occurred. Trash can had spilt some very slippiable garbage, someone had slipped, etc. It was all to obvious that the climax of the whole thing would either focus on one person completely humiliating them, or it would take out the whole group.

"Oh." Brent finally let his face slip. "Good, that was starting to hurt."

"Where's Sora?" Tails looked around and spied her on top of a table. It almost seemed the hurricane of chaos was circling around her. "Figures." He mumbled to himself.

"10 bucks says she's standing there of her own free will, JUST to create that image." Brent nodded. "She's trying to impress herself."

"Impress herself?" Tails chuckled a bit. "Kind of lame."

_Sort of like someone who wants to ditch the sidekick moniker?_ Tails' mind shot back. The fox winced a bit and shook his head. "Anyways, you wanted an actual report right?"

"Yep."

"They're trying to follow us, but we're leading 'em around in circles, the catch is I don't know who the hell it is."

"Yeah. Trask figured the circle thing would discourage them. The way we're moving however is more like a spiral, eventually we're gonna end up crashing into each other head-on if they keep this up." Brent let out a sigh. "And there's not many people who would."

"Only ones who would want to seek us out right?" Tails had already figured most of it out. The other resident Masters had no reason to keep at this, even if they knew it was Brent and Salah if only for fear of the catgirl alone. This was someone who was definitely not afraid, and knew who he or she was after.

"This 'Glory Era' thing stinks. We're supposed to be following the strategies of that time period right? Guess who knows 'em by heart?"

Tails bit his lip. "HE's in on this? I thought the whole 'being dead' thing was supposed to be his cover."

"Guess not. But..." Brent smirked. "Who do ya think the Snobgirl and I are? We know all of his moves too. Hell, YOU should too by now."

The kit sat on the ground for a second and closed his eyes. "Mostly ariel or disarmament moves right? Stuff that you wouldn't really expect in a staff to staff battle..."

"We're not in this for staff to staff. That stuff is designed to draw the enemy into close quarters or at the very least make sure he can't draw a gun on you."

Tails sprang up. "Than that means if we can draw them into an open area..."

"We'd get ourselves clobbered by any other group watching either of us. Nah, this has to be close." Brent leaned down to whisper into the fox's ear. "And because it's close it's be gonna be chaos in a lot of ways. Listen, everyone else knows at this point, this IS the Battle Royale, and only one winner is gonna come out of it. Just be careful, watch your back and..." Brent nodded towards Sora as the anarchy around her started to die. "Don't be afraid to do what ya gotta."

The kit sighed. He understood. Sora was as much a threat to him as anybody else was in this case. He would've liked to say it was nothing personal, but knocking one of your best friends out of something this big? It was personal no matter how he looked at it. He'd just have to shrug and take it...of course there was always the easy way out.

"I'm not staying on, I don't want to join the Wings, and I really don't want to hang around in that lab. Forget it, I'm just not interested in winning." He stated calmly.

Half of it was a lie. He was interested in winning, he wanted the challenge. If it boiled down to him, Craig and Sora it would be a blast. It was what came afterward he didn't want.

'Look at the prodigy! First guy to win in how long?' They would say. Then they'd slap a bandanna around his arm and push him out in front of tank. Wait, what the hell? Who even said he was going to win? If he were lucky, he might only lose one arm to those guys. What an image that would be: 'The one-armed two tailed fox! For tonight onlyyyyy. Buy yar tickets, buy yar tickets.'

"Uh, you feeling alright?" Brent snapped him back to reality.

"I'm not sure anymore." Tails tired to jog his brain. "Screw it. I'll fight 'em. But not behind their backs. When it all breaks down I'll be ready for it."

"It's not in good shape as it is." Brent pointed to the scene in front of them.

Cereal boxes, plastic silverware, and students lay on the ground, randomly scattered around the place. Sora was still on the table, but by this point had doubled over in laughing. Actually that was a understatement, a phrase such as being 'quintupled over in laughter' would fit better, but would probably cause all sorts of grammatical problems.

"Ya see?" She leaped back up, yelling with all the fervor of a inspired preacher. "This is the kind of stuff that happens to me, and for once it didn't touch me! This is what you all get for being normal!" She broke out laughing again and promptly fell off the table onto Craig.

"Wow." Brent blinked. "Now I feel guilty. I'm gonna go stick my head in a trashcan out of sympathy."

Tails started chuckled a bit and then stopped as Brent climbed headfirst into the nearest bin.

* * *

There was no denying it. The exercise had catapulted Mike straight into a sense of apathy so advanced it needed a new word to describe it.

He settled on 'korshmel.' He was definitely in a state of korshmel.

"We're just about on top of 'em." Mason kept talking. "We'll run into them in about 3 more hours."

"That's not being on top of them, that's being directly parallel to them. We can't afford to charge." Michael said completely flat.

"Actually yes we can. One winner, remember? After the fight, I bet you 10 bucks both groups will break down completely. Then it'll be carnage, and someone will win..." Mason suddenly clamped his arms together and blurted out in a mock sing-songy voice. "And then the sun will come out and they'll be dancing...cute...things...and...it'll be stupid!" He slowed down as he realized his parody had fallen flat.

"Your sarcasm's completely dried up isn't it?" Mike looked at him as if he were bellybutton lint.

"Yes, no thanks to you. You've made so many dumb moves lately that I had to keep making fun of them. Now look at me." Mason tried his best 'pathetic' face.

"Do I have to?" Mike winced turning his head. "Let me tell you something bud. You're not too great at generatin' sympathy for yourself."

"Yes. Drop the 'g'. It makes you sound so much more wiser than I. All hail the wise hick."

"There, ya see?" Mike slapped him on the back. "All you needed was a little extra stupidity direct from myself."

"I'm sure you've got quite a surplus to share." Mason rolled his eyes.

There were many theories between the Banelan brothers to why the squirrel did this so often. It was very possible that it went beyond simple cynicism. Juro had offered once that Mason was in fact quite paranoid and the comments set up the eye rolling which was actually used as an excuse to check the surrounding area.

Michael had always said that the kid was just a brat.

You had to say something for him though. For all his faults, and unpleasantness at conversation. (Most dialogues ended up with 'Why aren't we doing our JOBS?!") Mason had what some might call a 'pure spirit'. Heck, if he could, he'd probably be foaming at the mouth with some sort of strange form of honor. Not to say he was obsessed with keeping some sort of code, he was just a genuinely good guy.

Now if only good equaled nice.

"Alright Howler, you've made your point. We'll have 'em run into each other in 3 hours." Oddly enough the wolf was now feeling a happier kind of korshmel. He'd just leave everything to Mason,and who knew? Maybe once the squirrel could see what he was talking about, then maybe Mike would actually win an argument for once in his life.

Michael put his paws behind his head. It was time to kick, back, relax and let the High Chief screw up.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Brent went up to Salah, still trying to dust bits of Styrofoam off of himself.

"The fact everything just collapsed into total chaos? The fact no one's listening to me? The fact that you're disregarding our little deal?" She tried to thwack him but failed as he dodged the staff. "That's what's wrong. I listened to you and came out here...no, scratch that. It's these kids' fault! Smelly little..."

"You ARE a kid." Brent reminded her.

"Yeah but...I'm an older kid." Salah's face fell. "Great, now I feel stupid."

"And now I'm happy. Odd how that works isn't it?" Brent smiled cheesily.

"I can make you feel crappy again."

"Just try it." He challenged her.

"They cancelled the Legend of Kay sequel." Salah smirked.

The smile dropped off into a scowl. "I hate you." Brent mumbled, eyes narrowing.

"Now honestly think, how many times over the course of your life have you said that to me?"

"38." Brent declared proudly. "I kept track."

"That's sweet...in a disturbing and stupid way. So do you honestly hate me then?" She looked at him, a bit worried.

"Yeah. And at the same time I'm completely infatuated with you. It's a paraaadox." He drug the last word out waving his paws in front of her face.

"You're a mor---idio--block---DUNGBRAIN!" Salah finally managed to spit out knocking a paw aside.

"Moridioblockdungbrain? Geez, couldn't you have called me stupid and been done with it in two syllables?" Brent dropped his arms to his side. "C'mon, I'm bored and you're the only one around my age to talk to."

"No I'm not. There's guys in this stupid exercise who are 5 years OLDER then you ya know. There's somebody else your age around here I'm sure."

"Fine, you're the only interesting one to talk to." Brent shrugged.

Salah looked at him smirking a bit. "I get it now. You're like some hyperactive 7 year old who wants somebody to play with him. Go away now this is grown-up's work."

Brent narrowed his eyes. "You honestly think that you're an adult don't you?"

"I'm more of one than you are that's for sure."

"Sellout." He turned his back.

"Right. I feel intimated now. Ahh, furry back! Get me an electric razor, quick!" Salah laughed again.

"There's my point." Brent didn't turn around. "You just want the rewards of being an adult. You're more of a kid then you think you are."

"Watch it buckoo. At least I don't..." Salah started.

Brent turned his head to face her. "That was a compliment Salah."

She froze up. There were very few signs Brent was serious. Dropping the 'Snobgirl' moniker was one of them.

"Look pal. Childhood's over. If you spend every second of your life reminiscing about it , you're not gonna have a happy adulthood. Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah." Brent sighed and laid himself out on the grass. "I meant I'm glad to see working for the company hasn't really changed you. Well I mean, you've changed, but it's not because of _them_."

"You're a Ka Master too you know. You're just as much _them_ as..." Salah laid down also.

"Wrong. Just knowing how to spin a staff doesn't make me a mercenary. You wanna know the real reason I went out there? It wasn't really to find Mike...Well, I told myself it was anyway..." Brent yawned. "I wanted to get away from all this."

"You mean run away." Salah shot back a little harshly.

"Eheh." Brent gave off his best 'you're wrong' buzzer. (Although it sounded more like a refrigerator being drug across concrete.) "Running away would mean I would've had some responsibility in the first place."

"Well you're not exactly streetwise. What the hell did you steal anyway?"

"I think I got away with a traffic cone once." Brent started to laugh. "And don't get me started on the pair of headphones."

Salah sat up and hugged her knees. "Now this one, I gotta here."

"'Tis a tale of daring, cunning, and hiding stuff under a hat. Nothing you wouldn't suspect from the great Cat's Paw."

"You nicknamed yourself? Wait...you gave yourself a nickname that essentially means 'flunkie'?" Salah started to laugh also.

"I was new at it. Oh right, and there was that soft drink refill I didn't pay for. I don't know, I only tried anything daring once in an electronics store and well the day I tried that was the day I came back."

"I'm wondering...what made you pick the kid in the first place?" Salah turned her head to look at Tails. The kit was patiently sitting at one of the picnic tables, with Craig nervously next to him. Both were being yelled at by Sora who was again standing on the thing. Salah couldn't hear most of the lecture but managed to pick up the words "Ungrateful", "Dumb" and "Dinner roll". She had no desire to try and figure out how the three were connected.

"You mean Tails? Here's the thing: he asked."

Salah fought claw and fang to not spring up and shout "WHAT?" Instead she remained sitting and simply asked. "He's not...?"

"Does he look like the type?" Brent brushed it off.

"Good." Salah finished that string and let Brent continue. Getting kids into the Academy was not a real problem. Offer them education, physical exercise and glorified war stories and you had them line up. When they sought you out though it was a safe bet that they had some kind of bloodlust. Not that Salah thought Tails had any sort of that thing hardwired in his brain, you just couldn't be too safe when it came to that. The Ka Masters were looking for soldiers, not psychos. There had been a few to slip through the cracks though...

"I think he's out to prove something to someone. I don't get it myself. But ya know, I like having the kid around." Brent smirked.

Salah nodded to herself. While the other resident Masters and herself included most of the time tended to walk the other way whistling when they saw what was going on, Tails was one of the rare ones. He stood up for himself.

"So you're gonna see him through this thing right?"

"Intervention by a student's Ka Master in the Battle Royale is permitted if the Master is part of the exercise himself." Brent raised a paw and dropped it. "Why'd ya think I wanted to be one of the leaders?"

"Because you helped design the whole stinkin' exercise?"

"That was for a different reason though." Brent stretched out his legs more. "It was to delay the individual attacks as long as possible. All I care about is making sure that these guys see the Basic Rule."

"And that would be..." Salah looked over at him.

"Screw the rules. Being a Ka Master sucks." Brent listed off proudly. It was a long standing in-joke between all of the resident Masters and a philosophy they all shared. It was one of the reasons they all chose to be in the Academy instead of tromping out there into Guard Wing...with the exception of Tyson anyway, but Brent and Salah had thought they converted the otter to their way of thinking pretty well.

"Do you get it?" Brent went on, knowing full well she did. "The exercise tells 'em to fight each other. We just made it so they most likely'll fail if they do."

"They're coming soon." Salah ignored him. "Think we ought to pull these guys together before it happens?"

"That's thinking like a Captain." Brent stood up. "And a one and a two and a..."

* * *

PHRIIIIIIII! 

"Beans! I didn't know anyone could make a noise that evil." Tails covered his ears.

"It's just a whistle, Sparks. You should be used to it by now." Sora shrugged and leaped off the table.

"I'm with him." Craig let his ears droop. "There's something behind it this time."

"Way to be poetic carrot-teeth. Now come on, I don't wanna get in trouble." She dragged him off the bench as the three struggled to get to where Brent and Salah were standing. They had already started by that time. As far as they could tell over the students talking about nothing, Salah was trying to give out orders.

"Shut up. No questions, no time to clean up, no second helpings on breakfast. We've had a group tailing us--shut up--for the past day--shut up-- or so. They're going to be here in a couple hours at most--SHUT UP OR I WILL SURGICALLY REMOVE YOUR NASAL CAVATIES AND YES I AM QUALFIED TO DO THAT!!!!" Salah finally shut them up. "They're going to be here in a couple hours at most so we're gonna get the drop on 'em. We're gonna march straight into them. Chiefs break into selected platoons and get ready to march. Ias, Prower, Lateri...you guys stay here, got something to say to you. And the rest of you?" Salah turned to face them.

There was something different alright, although the students couldn't place it. They couldn't tell you anyway, they were butt-scared.

"All hands at attention!" Brent yelled out cheerfully. The students raised the tip of their staffs to their foreheads. "At ease!" In the same movement they broke it, and quickly tried to divide themselves.

The usual 3 trudged up to them.

"So what is it?" Tails looked at Brent.

"Craig, you don't get a platoon. You three stick together. Don't give me any lip I know you think it's cheesy, I don't care." Brent smiled at them. "It's for your own good."

Sora fumed and opened her mouth.

"This isn't advice from an adult Lateri." Brent said gently. "Don't forget I'm only a little older then you."

She quickly shut it again.

"So you think moving us in such a small group is gonna help?" Tails asked getting more than a little angry at the decision. "Just because we hang out together doesn't mean we're some sorta super-squad."

"First of all, congratulations for saying all that without slipping up. Second of all, no better time to learn teamwork then the present now is there?" Brent's smile grew a bit wider to include his fangs. It was an attempt to intimidating.

It failed. All 3 kids looked blankly at the cat.

"Okay, fine." Brent dropped the look. "Here's the issue. Tails, we talked about this right? You're an expert at disarming an opponent. Sora, you're a dolt when it comes to the fancy stuff, but you hit hard, quick, and precise. As for you Craig, you're short but you know how to take a hit and on top of that you know the natural flow to moves. You're perfect for making team strategies. Get it? This is why Tyson, Sharp and me trained you the way we did."

"Wait. How would you know we'd be working together at one point?" Craig wrinkled his forehead.

"We didn't. We just knew you'd be placed in a team sometime in your career. The last thing any of us want is to make you think...that...oh I can't say it!" Brent gritted his teeth.

"He means they didn't want you to focus on your individual skills, you have to think as part of a collective." Salah finished for him.

Brent winced. "I just can't bring myself to favor con...con...you know that _one_ word." Brent shivered in fright.

"Conformity?" Sora asked.

"You know, I think I dropped enough hints that I wanted to completely avoid that word altogether..." Brent looked at her in contempt.

"I think we get the point." Tails looked at the other 2 students. "So are we going to have one of those 'Stick together and everything will work out' anime moments then?"

"What'ya you think?" Sora smiled. "This semester hasn't given us a break yet has it?"

"She's right." Craig chimed in. "And if the whole 'friendship conquers all' cliche is suddenly gonna become truth, then we're gonna have to adhere to it aren't we?"

"Adhere." Salah snickered. Everyone gathered looked at her. "Look at us." She threw her arms out. "The 5 biggest nerds in the Academy. Ias, no one uses the word 'adhere' in day-to-day conversation."

"The philosopher, the dreamer, the realist, the scientist and the geek." Brent rolled his eyes. "Face it ladies and gentlemen, we're never gonna be accepted in society."

"I always thought..." Tails started. "Well it sounds stupid, I know, but I always thought of it like being 5 different parts of the same person. I mean a lot of the stuff we like is the same, we talk the same, we've read most of the same things.."

"Ha! Can you imagine how screwed up that kid would be?" Sora started to laugh. "Never mind me folks, I'm just going to read Dickens, play Xenogears, try to figure out the meaning of life, stay out of the spotlight, and attempt to conquer Earth, _all at once_."

"You know..." Brent started. "I have a feeling my part would be playing something more like...Arcana."

"Please that translation was horrible. Remember when they butchered the name of that kickass mage character? The second one, not Teefa." Salah asked.

"What kickass mage? If I remember right the second one was a weakling little pri---"

"SHE WAS KICKASS AND THAT'S THE END OF THE ARGUMENT!"

"Alright, geez." Brent nearly ducked.

"So I guess we better get to marching right?" Tails tried to keep in a laugh.

"Don't leave me alone with her, I'll be a fur rug by the time you come back!" Brent squealed.

"Go. All 3 of ya. Get out there, do what you need to, and shove Mike's plans down his windpipe." Salah looked at them.

"All hands at attention.." Brent got out meekly still scared of Salah.

"We're not saluting." Sora piped up. "You're not a real captain."

"You know, I think I wish I was still trainin' you." Salah rubbed the vixen's head. "Then I could get you up at 3 and have you out there until sunset."

"You could, but there'd be a catch." Sora raised a paw.

"What?"

The foxgirl smiled, bearing her own fangs this time. "You'd have to be out there too."

"Alright guys. Let's go for it already." Craig tried to pull them away. "Fall into marching order and stay in formation."

"That girl..." Salah shook her head as the kids gradually sunk in with the rest of the group.

"What is it?" Brent asked trying to lick a stray piece of fur on his forearm.

"She's the mirror image of..."

"Karastil right? Or Kaze. She sort of looks like Kaze."

"No." Salah shook her head. "I think she's me in mini-form."

"So..." Brent picked up his Ka Staff from the ground and started drawing in the dirt. "When are they gonna land on 'em?"

"At the rate they're both groups are marching at? I'd say 45 minutes at most."

* * *

Mike yawned. "Anywhere near 'em Nutmeg?" 

Mason swatted at him with his sword. "How many lame nicknames do you have for me?"

Michael tapped his chin for a few seconds, whistled out his nose and answered: "More than I will ever be able to call you."

With a quick upwards motion of his wrist, Mike grabbed the squirrel's sword. "And you're not gonna use this thing." He handed Mason his staff. "It's stupid and it's heavy to carry around. And don't give me any of that 'Because it's heavier I can fight better with light weapons' crap. You know the difference between a sword and a staff."

"Yeah." Mason nodded. "A sword can _stab_."

"What'ya say we put the kids on double-time? I don't think I can wait to watch this thing."

"Fine with me. It's a surprise attack anyway, right? I'll give the order." Mason walked to the front of the crowd.

Michael smiled to himself. "Surprise attack my navel...12 and half minutes is it? Sounds like fun to me."

* * *

RETROSPECTIVE 

Wow, I bet you hate me now.

* * *

Mornin' lads and lasses. Yeah, I'm sorry about the way the thing ended. I had every intention of typin' the fight scene out and then thought 'I won't get through it tonight. Just fix it up and give them a blasted chapter. Besides it gives you guys something to look forward to for the next X 3 months. (I'd like to say not, but I'm tired of breaking promises. It'll come when it comes.) 

Seeing as this took so long it's a mishmash of different styles. Everything from 'influenced by Pratchett' to 'influenced by Bradbury' Fun stuff. Especially Mike's dirt drabble, I feel stupid. I'm just not made to write narrative.

Don't mind me and my cereal ramblings. It's just, when you stare at the box for so long it...it starts to do stuff to you...

Yep. Still royally pissed about JoWood nixing the Legend of Kay sequel. Just ain't fair.

Well look at that. I swore sooner or later I'd put that "5 geeks against the world thing" towards the end. I guess we're near the end. Well _near_ the end, not at it. I'm not gonna have it end against Mike. That would be silly. Gotta stop talking now, before things get too long. By the by, I'm jumping on the bandwagon and launching one of those nifty author-specific forums. Why? Beats me. Go there, yell at me, ask me questions, discuss Jungle Emperor, whatever. I'm cool like that, I can do the same things you all do.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going back to playing Alley Cat. Whee! CGA Graphics...

(P.S- I just now noticed the "PHRIII" pun. That was not intentional. And yes it is horrible. Too bad, I like it.)


	28. First Person Confusion

Yo. Before we start the story, just wanna give ya a heads up that this chapter is delibertily confusing and disorienting. Pay special attention to the line breaks and please PLEASE tell me if I've made a mistake in dividing up the POV switches. Thanks for your time, grab a sandwich and please enjoy!

* * *

_Trynotopuke-trynotopuketrynotopuke...trynotopuke..._

_Saint Michael the Archangel,defend us in battle..._

_Move left, move right. Hit 'em where it hurts..._

_Sure wish we could march to a song..._

_I'd really like something crunchy right about now..._

Sometimes, during periods when you can't seem to focus on anything else, thoughts become a little too visible. It's not like your psychic or anything, it's more of a second guess, but in situations like these ones, they tend to be _really_ good second guesses. I wonder if that's what Dad's been trying to do to people. Second guess 'em..anyway, it's kind of weird. I sorta know what everyone's thinking. Wonder if that's 'cause I'm thinking it too.

"Sora?" Tails is looking straight at me. "You all right? You're being a little quiet for you..."

"Yeah." Craig nods. "You've only screamed at us twice."

I scratch the back of my head. "Guess I'm just being reflective for once in my life."

Tails laughs a bit. "Great. I can just see you tearing apart the universe with your mind."

What a weird kid. I mean, he's a cool guy and all, but why is it everything he says has to be so...verbose? Whatever. I suppose when you're using words like "verbose" you really don't have much room to complain do ya? Being smart, being clever...I know it's a fox thing but where did it ever get me? It got me kicked out of my family. As far as I'm concerned you're not gonna save yourself by just showing off how smart you are, you've gotta have the right attitude to go with it.

Ew. That sounded like something that belongs on a t-shirt. I've really got to word things better. Maybe I'll take it up with Tyson-Ka on how to prepare your innermost thoughts so that they don't come off as cheese, but that's not the point. Ya see, most people would say I act the way I do 'cause it's a mask. Like I'm trying to make up for the fact I've been rejected by trying to be stronger than everyone else.

Screw them. I AM stronger than everyone else.

And like that one kid up there, I'm ready to puke.

* * *

What's up with Sora? Now she's going all out philosophical on me too? Great, I'll be the only one left who actually _cares_ about what we're doing. Mind you, I don't know why I care. I don't think Brent-Ka or Salah-Ka know what they're doing. We're three scared little kids, not some "collect the whole set today" Saturday morning cartoon squad.

But you know, in the bigger picture I think I'm happier to be with these two then I would be leading a charge or something. Heh, a little ironic isn't it? The prey being best friends with the predators? Eh, whatever. I'm supposed to have a thousand enemies right? Not like I care. Watership Down was kind of depressing anyway.

"C'mon ear-boy, whistle somethin'." Sora suddenly comes out of it, walloping me in the head with a paw. Ya know, it still hurts even after all this time.

"Uh, I can't...I can't really..." I gulp a bit ashamed. "I can't whistle anything that would be considered a tune."

"Really?" She looks at me grinning. "Neither can I. Hey Prower, can you?"

"Not anything you'd like." Tails walks around the issue as usual. That's sort of what I like about him, he says stuff, means it, and at the same time can escape from Sora's grasp whenever he needs to.

Unlike me. Unlike 'walk into a room and vanish' me. Never draw attention, never look for attention, good things will come to the quiet kids, raise your hand before speaking, etc. etc.

It's not true is it? It's never true. When you're quiet people assume it's because you have nothing to say. At times I'd like to just be like Sora and stand my desk just yelling at the world, or maybe turn around and be like Tails who can insert Cervantes into day-to-day conversation. But no, society's got me trained to be the silent little bunny I am.

It isn't like it's the first time society's lied to me.

Wonder why I keep listening to it.

* * *

I've never felt so idiotic in my life.

You know when you're reveling in the mundane, to the point of not really caring what you're doing anymore? When repetition completely takes over and frees up your mind for other things? Well in a way that's how I feel and it isn't good for me.

When you're alone, I mean really alone, the only company you have is yourself. You start to build up images of who you think you are, how you act, what it is you want to become, and in moments like these, when you really honestly look at yourself from the outsider's perspective, you find out you're nothing like you thought you were.

Me? I'm an idiot. A self-absorbed smartass little know-it-all who thinks he can second guess the world and the way it acts. What world? What do I _know_ about it? I saved the blasted thing more times then I care to remember, but what is it I actually saved?

It's not fair is it? It's not fair for me to pass judgement on others and not really understand who others are. It's not fair to assume that my life and the lives of my friends are the only things that matter.

I wonder how Sora and Craig see me. I just hope they don't idolize me or anything.

See? There I ago again, why the hell do I think they have me up on a pedestal? Just 'cause I _think_ I can swing a stupid stick better then them?

Lord, I don't know what I'm doing right now. I don't know who I am, or what it is I'm SUPPOSED to be doing. Can't you give me a hint or something really obvious or just something to make this all stop before I go absolutely cr--

"You have self-worth, if that's what you're trying to deal with."

What the? Did Sora just...

She smiles at me. "You don't have to act so shocked, you just had this look on your face that screamed, 'Warning, depressing thoughts about life entering brain'."

I chuckle a little bit. "So you're gonna have me subscribe to the Ayn Rand theory? No thanks, I actually want to have friends believe it or not."

Sora twists her face up for a second in general confusion. "Ya mean the girl who wrote "Atlas Shrugged"? Geez, no. I just meant you aren't trash. Not to go around saying that you're God or anything."

"One of the boys in the engine room pumping life into the universe. John Lily." I point out.

"Pft, first of all, Lily only had his 'revelations' about life after several acid trips, you know that. Second of all you completely butchered that quote." Sora yawns and slaps me on the back. "Shut up and listen to me. The world hates and ignores people like us because we refuse to blend in. We wanna be happy and their problem is our 'happy' doesn't line up with their 'happy'."

"Yeah, the problem there is that your idea of happiness involves making everyone else miserable."

"Not everyone." Her tail droops a bit. "Just..ya know...everyone I don't like."

"Which pretty much encompasses everybody that has a vowel in their name." Craig mumbles from her side.

"Oh shut it! I'm tryin' to cheer the guy up and you're not helping!" Sora thwacks him in the back of the head again and twirls around to face me, nearly grabbing me by the neck. "Listen you moron, are you alive?"

"Yeah. And I really hope to stay that way." I gulp in fear. "I'm sorry for whatever I did?"

"And you're livin' in this world right? That makes you a member of society for better or for worse. Guess what? The people who are part of something are usually the best judges of it." She drops me to the ground. "There. Now you're happy right?"

"No, I'm in fear for my life."

"But you're not moping anymore. Mission accomplished." She trudges on leaving me and Craig behind for a moment.

"You know why she did that don't you? I mean walking ahead of us." Craig quickly nibbles on one of his ears.

"Why?"

"Because she thinks we talk about her when she's not around."

I stop for a second. "But...we are."

"I know." Craig sighs. "And it's pissing me off."

* * *

**Annnnnd in this corner, direct from the Missouri Consulate and the wonderful city of St. Louis (Or at least a satellite area that no one really cares about) Brrrennnt Crayshen! And his opponent, our reining champion, the Commander of Condemnation, the Gerent of Judgement, the Grandmaster of Guilt, Salaahhh Eterna! Ladies and Gentlemen let's get ready to make the catboy feel like total crap!**

My mind is a chaotic thing to behold. Heh, guess that's not too surprising 'eh?

Along with the several different pieces of my brain that like to hold conversation with each other, there's a specific section whose job it is to narrate stupid things like that. I suppose if someone actually knew I thought of situations in such whimsical terms, they'd say I have a bright outlook on life.

Hellbeans, they can have it if they want it. There's nothing more annoying than someone running constant sarcastic commentary on your life...and keep in mind that I share a hallway with a rat who blows things up to relieve stress.

Actually smug comments like that aren't really the problem. The issues kick in when...

**She walked into my office. A wildcat. That was a problem. Wildcat women were trouble. I lit up a cigar, putting my footpaws up on my desk.**

**"Look, Suzy Gingerfur, I'm a busy man. You should say what you're gonna say and it better be important."**

**"The name's Eterna. Salah Eterna. Call me Gingerfur again and I'll knock you one so hard, money'll fall out of your savings account." She spat on me.**

"Look, all I'm saying is that we didn't have to shove them off like that. I thought you said you were going to help the poor kid, not throw him to the sharks." She's giving me that look. That "I don't care if I'm wrong or right, I'm the one with the fists." look. There's not much a chance of me winning this one is there?

"I am going to help him Snobgirl, keep your armor on. It'd just be really bad form to march up standing next to him." I try to put up a defense.

It's not that hard of a situation to understand. Ya see, I remember saying something about an hour or so ago that went along the lines of 'Intervention by a student's Ka Master in the

Battle Royale is permitted if the Master is part of the exercise himself.', and I sort of just sent my student to take our old Ka Master out by himself. Confused? I'll lay out for you.

My Dirty Work Beating Mike

Tails, Craig and Sora Need to learn to work together 'Weird Moments That Just Happen To Have A Moral'

Dirty Work + W.M.T.J..A.M Sending my student out to take my old Ka Master down a peg while I sit here and drink watery Kool-Aid.

Don't give me that look, I've had a rough day. I'm sick of yelling at kids to line up and 'Move this way', 'Smack this', 'Don't throw other students in trees.' For the love of Nobuo Uematsu, there's only so much I can take a day!

So keep in mind all I want to do for a while is kick back, drink this cherry...strawberry...RED flavored stuff, and admire the various bug bites I've gotten on my legs since starting this whole exercise when this weirdo buzzing noise stars. I listen closer and it's the Snobgirl whining about how I should be out there. Like she has room to speak, she's standing right next to me!

"Like you have room to speak you're standing right next to me!" I point out.

"I can do that because I have seniority over you in this exercise...and seniority over you back at the Academy...and I'm a month older than you." She smiles.

"Oooookay, what did that last one have to do with anything again?"

"It proves my seniority over you _in life_." She folds her arms.

I take another sip of the Kool-Aid.

**I take another sip of the foul stuff that was in the glass, and close my eyes, refusing to look at her over the bar. The saloon is a relatively clean place. Looks like no one ever comes here at all.**

**"Miss." I tip my hat at her. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I reckon I've been everywhere from one dust covered town to another, and somethin' tells me that pretty little ones like yerself don't get out of these types of places very much."**

**"Nah, but I can fill those gaps in your teeth with lead." She pats a pistol at her side.**

"Why would it matter whether if I've been anywhere?" She looks confused.

"Look, I'm the last person you'd be calling streetwise, I know. But you've hung out at this stupid school since...well, ever. You've never even seen a city outside of a few field trips."

"Well?" She folds her arms. "Why is that relevant?"

"Because Miss Eterna," I bow gracefully. "You're a snobbish little furball who doesn't even realize there's a world out there to judge. In the end, you don't even care, not about me, not about Tails, not about your dad, or anybody. You think that if you just sit back in the shadows and move people like it's one of your botched games of chess that everything'll just fall smack into place don't you?"

**I always wanted them to skip the funeral and go straight to the wake. That's right you mangy freeloaders. I give you 17 years of friendship and you go and throw it away in one drunken night of revelry. I hope Sharpear pukes up a lung tomorrow morning...and why the hell are you playing 'Statues' with my corpse? I'm pretty sure if I was alive, that wouldn't bend that way...**

I pause slowly realizing what I just said. "Uh, that was the Red Dye #2 speaking?" I try to grin. Too late. Her paw just connected with my face.

* * *

You know what pisses me off about Brent the most? It isn't the moments of absurdity, it isn't the stupid way he treats life like there's nothing serious about it, it's when he thinks that's his ideas are right just because there his ideas. He's rubbing his cheek now. I can't believe I just slapped him.

I should've removed his lousy neck.

"That stung, Snobgirl." He tries to say 'pathetically'.

"Puppy dog eyes don't work when you're a friggin' CAT!" I remind him.

I guess I'm more than just a little mad at this point. I know I'm just some slob in armor, I know all I've done is stick here most of my life. But I do not, nor have I ever manipulated people like...like what he was just talking about. I don't know, I didn't hear him too well. The second my 'Brent's insulting me' instinct kicked in I was just sort of ready for violence.

"Hm, didn't spill the Kool-Aid." He puts the paper cup down on a nearby table. Damned attendants. They still haven't cleaned up since that whole breakfast fiasco.

"Okay here's how it goes." He turns to face me again. "I'm going to help when I'm needed. I'm not saying I'm going to pull off some Deus Ex Machina moment and rush in the last second, but I'm not going to glue myself to the kid while he's on the march. It's our job to stay at the tail-end of things for observation and you know that. Second of all, don't criticize what I'm doing, when you're doing the exact same thing!"

"Oh so you're just doing something because someone else was doing it? I thought you were the nonconformist." I smile a bit wickedly. Take that, ya uppity bastard.

"That really, really stung." He reels back a bit.

"Alright, I'll give you that you don't have to march out there right away, but let's face it. Without me to hold your paw and drag you around, you never would. You'd just be sitting here making some weird joke like, 'It's not cherry, it's red flavored'. You're a lazy litter-brained excuse for a soldier who can't admit that he's not a kitten anymore!"

Oooo. Maybe I should've turned it down a bit, he's shaking. Gosh darnit if he starts crying I will too and then where will the 'Assertive Salah' be? Go ahead Eterna. Just aplog--

"ARAAAH!" He suddenly screams out of nowhere. "Hold my paw huh? Just a kitten huh? That's how you see the whole freakin' world isn't it? After all, you're Salah Eterna the main character of what we call World History. Gosh if only we had your presence back in every major war, we could've avoided catastrophe. Get this straight, you are not the world's savior, and as long as you stick around this miserable little place, you're never going to help anybod--"

I grab the back of his neck and slam his head into the picnic table.

"I'm serious! Get over your good girl complex and see that if you don't get your act together the world's gonna move on with or without you! If you want to things to change than get out there and...and..."

"Get out there and change them." I growl.

"Oh." He stops ranting. "Wow, that was effective. How the hell did you get me to argue your own point?"

"Something I picked up here in my lonely sheltered life." I let him go as he slips to the ground.

"Why do we do stuff like this to each other?" He looks up at me from the ground.

"Because it's fun." I point out.

I know it sounds cruel and sadistic, but let's face it. If we weren't there to annoy the beans out of each other then there's no way we would've become the people we are. The foils are really bosom buddies, whether you like the idea or not.

"It's just...we need to keep it in check. We might end up getting married or something." Brent warns.

"Too late. At this point we're not gonna be able to avoid it."

"Oh." He sits up. "So...you're not going to turn red and start babbling random stuff? I mean something's gotta happen here. Days of embarrassing hi-jinks?"

"No."

"A friggin' date?"

"No...and if you were asking me out, no again."

"Geez." He rubs the back of his head. "That's really depressing."

"Oh get off it. If we were going out any relationship we would have wouldn't go beyond playing co-op Bubble Bobble down in the Rec Room and maybe hanging out all the time."

"So..." He counts on a paw. "We've been going out all this time and never noticed?"

"I did. It's not my fault you're too slow to pick up on things." I smile.

"Snobgirl?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate your guts."

"I hate your guts too Fatmouth."

* * *

I didn't know what you'd call it, a fight, pandemonium, general chaos, but one thing was for sure. Two pretty big groups of marching students just rammed into one another and now they're beating each other with sticks.

If this wasn't my job, I would say it's one the funniest things I've ever seen.

The best part about this is that all I have to do is stand in back, watch, and maybe make a few whistle blasts. (And not even that considering Mason wanted to keep that for himself) Yeah, I'm part of the exercise. Yeah, I can be eliminated. And I know perfectly well what's going to happen. To tell you the truth, I'm looking forward to it. It isn't the old 'I seek a new challenge in life' bit or anything like that of course. I don't wanna test they're strength either. I'm looking forward to kickin' their butts because it'd be fun to see the looks on Brent and Salah's face to see their whole master plan go up in smoke.

So here I am kids. Anytime you're ready...

* * *

Hypothesis- Close Range Battles Suck Beans

Yeah I think that one's obvious. Stick a bunch of people into one small area and have them try to kill (or in the case just hurt) everybody else. Fun times. Fun times.

Hypothesis- Maybe Brent-Ka wasn't so wrong about the whole teamwork thing.

For one thing, I never seen Sora fight like this. Hell, I wish you could, it's sort of lame to put it in words. Let's try this, it's like watching somebody in a psychotic rage mow a lawn perfectly with a butterknife. Everytime someone tries to setup some fancy technique or enter drive, she just clobbers them in the head. Attendants are swarming around her with cameras to add to this whole mess. She's got quite a score on her hands. Craig meanwhile, is also doing what they wanted him to do. As far as I can tell he's guiding us in a perfect path, the shortest route to reach Mike, while at the same time recognizing the stronger fighters and having us take them down.

As for me, my job was to disarm and protect. No cameras swoopin' round me I guess. My only concern is making sure we don't get disqualified due to 'damage taken'. Meaning I've got to keep an eye on both of them and who's around us. It feels good to move my eyes this fast again. I guess I'm a little out of practice since coming here.

On the left. Danger to Sora, she doesn't see it. I strike at the bottom of the guy's staff sending it spiraling into the crowd. Now the right! He's in front of me. I take him down at the knees so he won't slow me down while I try to spot Craig and all his shortness in this mess.

Hypothesis- I think Michael-Ka is ready for us.

Which is supported by the fact that as soon as we got out of that giant mosh pit, he just beaned Sora unconscious.

Not cool.

* * *

Heh. It wasn't Lateri's fault. Normally I could thwack her in the head all day and it wouldn't do malarkey to 'ir. She was still dizzy from that rush though. Poor kid. No one ever warned her about what that adrenaline could do to ya.

Well c'mon boys, I just knocked your girlfriend into next month. Don't tell me you're not going to...

SHMA-CRRICK!

* * *

I have never heard that noise before. Was that his skull? Did I just smash the old guy's head open?

"Damn." He slowly stands back up. "A little upset are we?"

He rushes at both of us, staff pointed down. Alright Prower, you know that can only mean...aiming low, I quickly block his attack at my legs. Regaining my balance, I strike at the bottom of his staff in hopes he'll lose his grip. Crap, no good. He knows that one too. He smashes my paws as I try to swing and my staff goes flying. Oh bad, oh bad, oh...

Wait, what the hell am I doing? Karastil's not gonna go for this staff to staff thing and if this is gonna be training...

* * *

I can't help but wonder if Tails just completely lost his mind.

"Uh..." I scratch the back of my head. "You just tackled a 45 year old athritic wolf."

"And it hurts." Mike whimpers trying to raise a paw.

"Damnit Prower!" Sora springs back up suddenly. "I was just getting ready to nail 'im!"

I swat her in the back of the head. "You're an idiot sometimes! No one wanted a Deus Ex Machina moment."

"Aww..." Brent-Ka suddenly rushes up. "I was gonna do one of those."

I try to fold my ears down to block out any more surprises.

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Prower lets me back up so I can breathe. "In the end, you were all just waiting for the perfect moment to bash my head in?"

"Would've gone smoother if Mr. Creative didn't cheat." Sora folds her arms in a huff.

It's times like these I gotta honestly admit to myself that we've left the whole situation in the hands of a bunch of immature brats. They've got no strategy, no sense of teamwork, no real battle experience...

And Karastil's not gonna expect a thing from 'em. His loss.

"Kid." I ruffle the bangs on Tails' head. "That was flippin' brilliant. The rest of you are morons...well you get the benefit of a doubt Ias. Didn't get to fight ya."

"In the background as usual." Craig grumbles.

"You're gonna like this a lot better. You guys just took out the commanding officer. You win the battle." I smirk. "And we took out 3 groups ourselves."

"Meaning what?" Brent yawns.

"Meaning there's only about 3 groups or so left. We've got less than a week, and whatever 'casualties' we didn't suffer, get absorbed into your unit. Don't blink but I think you got things wrapped up nicely."

"Grreeat. Than the real chaos of fighting amongst ourselves can start. Whee." Tails twirls a paw in the air.

"Wrong. See I was still watchin' this whole damn thing. No one's going to touch Sora's score, and due to the way the two geniuses that composed this orchestra wrote the rules..." I nod at Brent. "Even if you do get knocked out..."

Sora laughs a bit. "Yeah right. That score wasn't that high."

"You 'took out' 152 of 'em miss. No one's going to have that straight of a record."

Sora giggles to herself. "152. Told ya you shouldn't make..." And turns to such an incredible shade of pale you'd swear someone had poured white out all over her. "152?"

"Yep." I nod. "Checked with an attendant before ya got here. You probably have more."

"Congrats Sora. You just won the friggin' biggest competition we've got." Tails slaps her on the back.

"You're a freak Lateri." Brent looks at her. "Awesome. Keep that up."

Craig's just laughing. Can't blame 'im. Sora looks like she's about to sink into the ground.

"Meh..." She manages to get out still staring at nothing in particular.

* * *

Poor Sora. Doesn't look she wanted to win. Tails looks happy though. Good for him, he'll enjoy torturing her about things for a change. I gotta hand it to the kid, he's not a total idiot. I would've just gave up the second that staff left my paws. Guess I actually taught him something that stuck. Ya can't rely on a stupid stick.

I'm still a little pissed I didn't get to have the one moment of glory open to me though.

**And so the hero fades into the crowd, waiting for his chance to strike at evil once more...**

Shut up.

* * *

RETROSPECTIVE

One Heck of A Time

* * *

First I'd like to apologize for the snap ending. It was just so hard to write a fight and keep it cerebral at the same time. I feel cheap in one way, and totally justified in another, as it really was the best action Tails could've took.

That being said...I loved this chapter and (shock!) I still do! It was just fun to write and in my opinion kinda fun to read (But that's up to you guys isn't it?) My only regret is that I didn't go with the original plan to get inside Mason's head as well, but I don't think it really would've worked well.

A lot of Tails' philosophical battling up there (and Sora's answers) were my own personal struggles that seemed to somehow leak out into the darn story. That's kinda creepy considering that basically means I just got advice from a 13 year old foxgirl.

Questions about said chapter can always be posted at that nifty forum thing I set up...ya know, not pushing you to go but it's there...

Anycheezit, (Have I used that pun yet?) Had a good time, kinda liked the ending although it may be short. Nothing super profound here folks, this Retrospective has been a waste of your time.

Okay, I can see that 'The whole story's been a waste of my time' joke just forming in your heads. Stop it, all of you, right now.

For shame.


	29. Dinner Plans

There were over 14 thousand different adjectives that would have been appropriate for the situation at hand. Out of those multitudes, Sora had chosen 'sucked'.

While normally, she would have been apt to something more creative or threatening, (Perhaps something beginning with Q. Nearly everything that begins with Q has some sort of psychopathic connection to it.) but her brain, she had decided had obviously been zapped by invading aliens imbuing in her the worst kind of failure she could imagine: Success.

She wasn't normally the type either to stand out for the sake of standing out, it was just she had found out a long time ago that life doesn't tend to push back, it just sort of stands there and sighs. Needless to say, it was great fun just to stand there and poke it in the ribs. But the fact she had somehow flipped into an insane rage, took out _152_ students ('Took out' of course meaning 'Hit over the head') and catapulted herself into something even more annoying than their lives were before was nibbling at her.

It's one thing to stand in the spotlight and enjoy the envy of your peers. It's another thing entirely to stand on the large red X, about to get hit by a deathray POWERED by the envy of your peers. At least that's how she saw it. What was it about all of the three of them that drove people up a wall? Was it their refusal to bow down to peer pressure? Their somewhat semi-loyalty to each other?

The fact they were happy?

Whatever it was, the undying hatred of their fellow classmates, which they had already earned roughly around the beginning of the semester had turned into an all-out war & barbecue. It had started simply enough, a few foodstuffs resembling chicken salad being thrown at them, and had eventually escalated into all out Sheppard's Pie. Without any peace to be gained from staying on actual school-grounds the choice was made to try and finish up lunch in Tails' dorm (Despite his loud objections and fear of Sora getting tuna all over his book collection...again.)

All these events had led Sora up to this moment: Trapped in her friend's dorm room while she idly picked at the bread on her grilled cheese sandwich.

"Today sucks. Yesterday sucked. Tomorrow will probably suck. We're trapped in an eternal void of suck." She mumbled.

"Yeah, that's what voids tend to do." Tails blew it off and tried to get back to his copy of _Works and Days_, _ Ya know, she's lining up with this stuff pretty well. _He thought to himself leafing through a couple of pages. _Geez, even in ancient times people were downers._ "Why are you even letting this get to you?"

"Mefflblm.." Sora offered helpfully and went back to picking pieces of bread off.

"Translation." Craig swallowed as he finished a slice of ham. "She doesn't like the idea of being labeled."

"What?" Tails looked up at her. "Yes, you do."

"No, no, no." Craig corrected him. "She only likes being labeled as 'The One Crazy Girl Who'll Probably Kill You', not 'The One Crazy Girl Who WILL Kill You'. And to make matters worse, the people she hates are setting up a party for her."

"Which people? That's a long list."

"Oh, right. Authority I meant." Craig finished up the last of his lunch. It was quite a bit of information to get from a half-hearted 8 letter mumble, but at this point, both Tails and the rabbit could _almost_ second guess Sora's movements. The almost, was a big almost of course and important enough to italicized for the fact that no one, not even Sora herself, truly knew what was going on in her mind.

"Which reminds me, we're going to that thing too aren't we?" Tails turned his attention back towards the foxgirl.

"You're coming. Oh sweet merciful God in heaven, you're going to be there. I'm NOT talkin' to stuck up rich guys all night!" Sora revitalized herself glad she had something to get angry about again. "They think they're so brilliant with their...stuff."

"You know tonight's gonna be a pretty formal affair." Craig leaned back a bit. "A real suit-and-tie type deal right? So does that mean we're gonna see you all dre--" The question died before it even came out. The image alone was enough to make the boys cringe.

"Anyways, there's no reason to feel down about this. Think of this way, it's your first step towards being Ta'Ka isn't it?" Tails tried to console her.

"No. It's my first step towards losing my left paw on a forsaken battlefield." Sora pushed a paw down on her sandwich trying to flatten it completely. "Or maybe my first step to being stuck here for the rest of my life like Salah-Ka."

"Eh, Hesiod here would be proud of you." Tails snapped the book shut. "Labor saving us all and all that."

"Hesiod thought Zeus would kill us all because he'd get bored with us." Sora pointed out. "Labor was all the guy had for the defense of people."

"Now stop." Craig held up a paw. "Sora, how is it you can point out things like that and still manage to pass yourself off as a failing student?"

"Maybe cause I don't want Zeus to think I'm uninteresting." Sora winked.

"Yes, you want a sexually deviant god to take an interest in you. Way to go!" Tails gave a thumbs up.

"Ew. Okay, that was a pretty good line up until that point." Sora shook her head furiously trying to get rid of the thought. "Look guys, truth be told, I AM a little excited about all this. A lot of people are going to be showing up. Very big, very important people who I'd normally give my eyeballs to see."

"But than you couldn't..." Tails started and let it drop. No sense wasting a creative phrase. "So, exactly who are we talking about?"

"Former captains, former Guard Wing Chiefs... and some guys in the Wings that were nice enough to pal around with a little girl a few years back." Sora smirked. "If it wasn't for the fact the Board of Directors are going to be there, I wouldn't be complaining."

"She's right about that. I mean, I get the point that being a mercenary implies you belong to an actual _company_ and all that, but you shouldn't be able to run it unless you've been fighting yourself." Craig agreed staring at the ceiling "Most of those guys have never even seen a bauble. Probably give them heart attacks if they did. Sora, NO!" He quickly realized what he was saying as Sora's face grew a half-evil, half-joyful grin on itself.

"You're a killjoy, I hope ya know that." She grumbled finally taking a bite of the sandwich "Anyways," She continued, mouth full of flattened cheese. "It's not like it's totally for me. The people who've actually seen my transcript are a lot more interested in you guys."

It was true. Sora's grades had been the brunt of a lot of jokes, but they really were miserable. She had disappointed more than her fair share of powerful people who instead switched their eyes straight over to the other two students that had 'assisted' her doing the fight.

All of it had made Tails very, very nervous. Drawing attention from one power-hungry warlord was bad enough. If news of this spread, he wouldn't just have the Ka Masters trying to get him on their side, but every mercenary group in this region and beyond. It could make travel extremely dangerous or at the very best, annoying. There could be, the fox shuddered as he thought of it, people with clipboards.

_It's not just the Battle Royale thing either_, Tails' mind shot up trying to depress him. _Once they find out I pal around with Sonic, both of us are going to find it pretty dang hard to get around._

Craig on the other paw, looked pretty pleased by all the prospects. Tails couldn't blame him. It looked like someone could very well be paying actual attention to him, and on top of that, all of this pretty much gave the rabbit a cut and dry path to being a Guard Wing Chief the second he graduated.

"You know we're going to have to watch it while we're out there. What if your Dad decides to attack right there and then?" Tails snapped out of his thoughts going back to the conversation.

"Then we'll fight him off with caviar." Sora growled. "I wouldn't worry about him doing anything like that. It's not _subtle_." She spat out the last word onto her plate.

"No..." Craig bought his knees to his chest. "But hiding some sort of assassin in the whole mess is."

Sora slowly nodded. Assassins were always subtle...until they killed you at least. "But that's reason number two why I invited those Guard Wing guys. Trust me. We'll be safer then ya think."

"Peachy." Tails clapped his paws. "Well now that our lives are being placed in the hands of total strangers that I don't trust, I can rest easy. So get out of my room, and try to avoid getting ketchup in your fur until tonight."

"Right." Sora nodded getting up. "Plenty of time for that AT the dinner...and guys?" She slowly opened the door. "No talkin' shop tonight. Please? I at least wanna have one night where I don't have to worry about amino acids or whatever." She nodded walking out and slamming the door shut.

"...You know, something tells me you aren't going to honor that little request." Craig looked at Tails.

The fox waved a paw at him. "She'll get over it. There's just going to be too many people there. It'll be a conspiracy salad bar."

Craig laid down on the floor and burped a little. "I almost want to agree."

"What'ya mean?"

"Look..." Craig continued to lie there. "It's just getting old. Every so often someone comes up with an 'revelation' that only messes things up worse. Why is Mr. Lateri even doing all this in the first place? Did we ever figure that out?"

"Super soldiers" Tails bought up. "If I were an evil warlord, I'd want super soldiers."

"I wouldn't." Craig shook his head. "I've thought about this before...not that I want to be an evil warlord or anything, but genetically engineered superheroes are something I definitely don't want working under me. I'd want mass clones or something. Not something that could overthrow me while it was still in the test tube."

"First of all this is instantaneous, not required by treatment at birth. All we can understand is that the enhancements literally overwrite the current DNA of the subject. Think of it like updating a piece of software. Second, remember what Sora said. It's not subtle enough. Who wants to _rule_ the world when you can _nudge_ it in all the right ways. Say goodbye to rebellions, dissent and any divergent thought. forget about trying to maintain a massive army or protect yourself. Staying in the shadows and just sort of suggesting. That's what I think the guy wants to do. Slip a few cronies in the right places, have the threat of giant bulky guys and you've done something better than conquering the world, you've conquered people."

"Eh.." The rabbit yawned. "It's just so hard to care. We both saw the guy, he's a scrawny little dust mop with a menacing voice."

"Wait, you're calling somebody little?" Tails smirked at him.

"Hurr, hurr." Craig sat back up, rolling his eyes. "You're a real jerk sometimes ya know that?"

The fox picked up his book and thwacked the rabbit in the back of the head. "Yes. Yes I am. Now are you gonna help go through those stupid NFE notes or not?"

"Rather bite my own tongue off, tie my ears together with it, blindfold myself and eat okra."

"Wow. That kind of fizzled out at the end."

"Says you, I hate the stuff." Craig scrunched his face up. "What are you so concerned about anyway? We've already figured out about ninety seven percent of it."

"Yeah well..." Tails carefully put Hesiod back on his shelf and took a binder off. "There's still something that's bothering me. I bought it up with Dr. Vale...remember him? That guy that freaked you out with that photo?"

"Sort of." Craig twitched a little. A lot more than just the photo freaked him out. There was something about that guy just screamed 'If you so much as give me a papercut, you'll wake up tomorrow without a kidney'

"Here's the thing." Tails flopped back down and the floor and sprawled the binder open, flipping through various pages. "He nearly slit my throat when I asked him how Meora-Ka did what she did. Genetic engineering requires precision-point knowledge of what genes cause what behavior. The problem is, is that the Human/Anthro Genome project was started in 1990, and we didn't even get the first draft of the results until 2000. Practical application of the NFE started in 1980, and there's at least seven to ten years of development time unaccounted for. That's close to a 30 year time gap." The fox sighed a bit. "I don't get it. This would mean that both Dr. Vale and Meora-Ka were something beyond genius. It hurts my head."

"Well maybe it's easier when you're only looking for one specific gene." Craig shrugged. "It would cut a lot of possibilities out."

"To isolate something like that would actually take longer." Tails shook his head. "I know it's probably not that big of a deal and really all I should do is pat the two on the back and let it go, but Vale let something drop when I talked with him. He said I figured it all out." He laid his head down and closed his eyes. "Geez, I just wish I wasn't so much of a completest and I could walk up, smack Karastil as hard as he needed to be, and walk away from it. I feel sorta like Hamlet ya know? Like all I'm doing is talking when..."

"You're not thinking." Craig suddenly burst into the monologue.

"What?" Tails asked slowly, totally confused.

"You're acting like a character in a bad mystery. You're overlooking the obvious. Think about it, if Mr. Lateri had one experiment from Meora-Ka he could in theory figure out the others. Sort of...I'm not exactly scientific but..." Craig raised a paw to his face in reaction as Tails jumped up.

"You're brilliant! He's not after one experiment, he's after all of 'em! There's something in Meora's research that would add to the whole plan. Sure you can have super soldiers and private domination of the world, but what about being the perfect speaker, able to convince anyone? Or virtual immortality with no sickness or disease! Absolutely flippin' brilliant!"

"Hey." Craig smiled. "Guess I am sorta all sciencey."

"No you're not, he can't figure it all out from one experiment. That's only one taco in the value meal."

"What?" This time Craig asked slowly, totally confused.

"Piece of the puzzle, whatever." Tails was far too excited to care about making sense. "This is great! We can fight him on even ground with this. If we can find out where's he at, we can trace his every movement! We can end this thing before graduation. All we gotta do is figure out what information he's after, and get to it first."

"That'd be pointless though." Craig chewed his lower lip. "All of it would be stored right here wouldn't it? I mean, why chop something up and scatter it?"

"Defensive measures...I think. Obviously Meora-Ka had something she wanted in the right paws. But I can see your point. The big question is, if all the data, information, essays, tapes whatever are all over the place, why wouldn't they be here? It's not like she got out much. Either way, you've given me somethin' to chat about with Sora's pals at the dinner."

"She's going to kill you over this." Craig started.

"No, she'll just attempt to mutilate me. She does it on a daily basis anyway." The fox shrugged. "I'll just deal with it. Who needs a full set of ten toes anyway?"

The conversation was immediately broken up by a quick two knocks on the door, frittered and died as Slak came into the room without some much as a warning.

"Uh..hi?" Tails looked at him. "Care to learn about this thing called etiquette? It's really neat. It involves you respecting my privacy, and me knowing what you're here for."

"No." Slak delivered unblinkingly. "Besides half the school could hear you yelling. I figured you were in the middle of a long winded 'eureka' thing and figured this would be a good time as any."

"As good time as any for what? To jump into my room and scare the living crap out of us?"

"Yeah." The rat smiled.

Both Craig and Tails blinked for a second. The silence became heavy, and then fell on the floor breaking into a tiny thousand pieces of awkward. Completely unphased, and still keeping a ridiculous looking smirk on his face Slak cleared his throat and went on.

"Guess what you two getta do?"

Neither one answered for fear of what was coming next.

"Ias," Slak nodded at the rabbit. "You're gonna be helpin' me, Sharpear, and Crayshen with ushering duties. Lots of sittin' and coat taking. We might even get the chance to be glorified waiters and fill everyone's glasses with ice water!"

"Yea?" Craig raised a fisted paw halfheartedly.

"Stick it out with us, and you get more food than anyone sitting at that table. Wanna know the kicker? This stuff is made with real meat."

Craig bit his lip. "That's a good offer. That's a real good offer. But there's a lot in this dinner for me and I really want to get to know some people..."

"And after the dinner some Guard Wing pals of ours that Sora just happened to know and invite are all gonna sit around in a circle drinking vaguely alcoholic beverages and whine about Captain Eterna. Believe me carrot-teeth you'll get on their good side a lot easier if you happen to be there."

"That's actually not bad." Tails nodded. "So what about me?"

"Prower, you're probably the luckiest canidae on the face of the Earth right now. Or unluckiest. It kind of _depends._"

That was frightening. Tails could almost hear the italics screeching emphasis in the sentence, and Slak's voice had a perfectly cold and manufactured tinge to it. Without a doubt something truly horrible was about to happen...maybe. It could have also been something absolutely amazing, but he wasn't counting on the latter. The universe didn't tend to be kind and hand out pre-packaged gifts to the fox. If it did, then they were usually the type that were ticking and had to disposed of within thirty seconds.

"Alright, so Salah's in charge of Ka Group 12. You know that much. Thing is, they want a student to go along with her as a rep. Trask got transfered a few days ago and you're head and shoulders above Dane recently. Poor kid's grades leveled out sometime after that whole Run incident."

Tails took a moment to reflect on that. It was true he hadn't seen either of his usual rivals for a while. He didn't hear about the transfer though. It usually was the norm for a kid to get shuffled group to group lost somewhere in paperwork, but Salah was organized, and knew perfectly well that a well balanced Ka Group made her look good. It made him feel almost a little bad losing Trask. He had been a major jerk to begin with, but he was sort of a mellow jerk. The elk and fox had far too many similarities in some cases than either one was willing to admit. Dane on the other hand was so inflated with his own ego he had attempted to ride the rest of the year on his early good performances. It didn't work out, and the fox definitely wasn't sorry about that.

"To put it another way..." Slak continued. "You've got a date tonight Prower. With any luck Brent won't fail you out of jealousy."

Ah, that was why there was such need for the overly dramatic sentence. It wasn't the Brent comment that worried him, not by far. It was the fact that both Tails and Slak knew what was coming out of this. Word got around quickly in the Academy and this would only open up new areas for the students to torture the kit. On top of that, he had to make sure not to underplay it at the dinner. If he didn't shine as the perfect model student, Salah would probably shuffle him off to another Group and he'd be forced to finish the year up seeing very little of Sora and Craig, and far too much of his aggressors, which would not be good in any shape or form. He was still hoping to be reunited with Sonic with only a minimal amount of mental scars, not as a totally neurotic bundle of nerves with chewing gum covering every inch of his fur.

But it wasn't like the whole thing was terrible, it was a chance to shine a bit, he really did like Salah's company, and heck, the others could try to tease him all they wanted about it, but what could you really do with "Ha, ha you have a hot catgirl as a dinner date?" In his mind's eye he saw Sonic's eyes grow wide as he relayed that bit of information. Heh, it would've been worth doing of all of it, just to see the look on his face.

"All fine by me." Tails gave a quick thumbs-up.

"Peachy. Live through tonight, and you'll basically be getting a blank check for whatever you do the rest of the year." The rat nodded once, giving the impression that his neck was about to snap. "And start locking your door." He ambled out, shutting it behind him.

"Hm, not bad." Craig looked at him. "Top honors, hot women...you got the better end of the deal."

"You'd think that, but being the good ol' boy means I won't be the one asking any questions tonight. You on the other hand are gonna be in a room with a bunch of people who actually know what's going on." Tails slapped him on the back. "Guess what else you're gonna be doing?"

"Ooo, ooo!" Craig raised a paw and waved in the air. "Let me guess...um..not giving a flying cabbage!"

"Aw come on. Do it as a favor? What'ya want in return?"

Craig shrugged uninterested. "I dunno...a action figure in my likeness. Maybe if you press a button it could say "Do your own dirty work."

"Done." Tails nodded.

"Wait, what?"

"Well, it's gonna take some time to order the plastic and paint, and I'll have to make a new mold, but if you'd give me a voice recording I could have something..."

"Now hold it." Craig stopped him. "You _know_ I was being sarcastic."

"I also know..." Now it was Tails turn to smile deviously. "That you won't be able to resist the idea of seeing yourself with fully functional nibbling action. Maybe I could make the ears fully poseable too."

"Alright, deal, but if Sora comes after me, you're the one giving up their tenth toe."

"Eh, I was never into balancing perfectly anyway."

* * *

Even when the Wings were called home, even when a parade had to be put on to show off to the Board of Directors and potential clients, there was never any want for large deserted rooms in the Academy. Sub-basements upon sub-sub basements surrounded by soundproof walls...the entire lower half of the building had been built for one thing and one thing only: To provide much needed space for backstabbing, weaseling and other average politics. About 4 floors directly below Tails' dorm, and surrounded by plaster made to look like concrete, two very familiar wolves, a squirrel and a catboy who only contained thirty percent common sense (As the rest was devoted to a very uncommon type of sense) were all huddled around a table, and were in the process of trying to out yawn one another, but not without good reason.

"Alright." Mike shuffled his notecards again. "So here's what we got so far. I launch into some sort of reminiscing speech, babble on about how all the little croutons that bother to come here are the future and then bow out by thwacking a bigwig over the head with a staff."

"Eh, the speech is kind of blah." Brent tried for a eighty point yawn. "Can't we spice it up a bit? A musical song and dance number about the horrors of war or something."

"You're hopeless." Mason easily outdid him by at least 4 points, with a yawn so spectacular Brent almost fell asleep on the spot. "You gotta learn subtlety. Nah, what you should be doing..." He turned to the wolf. "Is dropping minor hints that you hate them. You know, like I do with you and Juro."

"And all this time I thought it was a front for your affections toward us." Juro flattened both of them, winning the contest with something that was halfway between a yawn and a howl. "Trust me Mike. You're good enough as it is."

"Yeah. Goin' with his opinion there. I'm sick of going over these." Michael threw the notecards down on the table letting them scatter. "So who's on the oh-so-prestigious guest list?"

"A couple short term Captains, old Chiefs, some clients from New Dakota, and all of Sora's old pals from the Wings. Nothing ultimately spectacular this year..." Brent counted off on a paw.

"'Cept him right? I mean you invited him right?" Mike's voice began to rise in excitement.

"Grandpa? He said he's enjoying retirement too much. Forget it."

Michael sighed, a bit disappointed It wasn't too often that everyone got together like this, and he was hoping. Paul would show up. If nothing else, the two could reminisce about somewhat pleasant memories, and between them come up with some sort of attack plan. Bah, so be it. He didn't have any real desire to drag the Boss down into that sort of crap again.

"Wait, why are they inviting clients?" Mason raised an eyebrow. "I mean I get it's supposed to be like some sort of trade show for us or something, but I amazed they'd actually come to the darn thing. It's not like the Ka Masters are popular from what's been happening recently. I think Captain Eterna sort of proved we weren't exactly ready to take on an actual army anytime soon."

"Welcome to the new selling point." Juro doodled on one of Mike's cards. "Elite soldiers able to adapt to any situation. We're not an army anymore, now we're special forces. I'm surprised they're the only ones showing up really. Aren't the Battle Kukku looking into us?"

"The Battle Kukku?" Michael looked at his brother with an odd glance. "Jury-o, not even Ax is gonna sell his soul to a bunch of genocidal pigeons."

"No, he won't." Juro shrugged. "The Board will though, and you know it."

"He's right actually." Brent tapped a paw to his chin. "One of the other guests is a royal diplomat. Guess that means no fried chicken tonight."

"You're wit is an never ending source of amusement and intelligence." Mason nodded. "I hope one day you realize this and gnaw your own face off."

"Pft. You call that a threat? You got anything that doesn't involve _implied _violence?" Brent looked smug as he went on. "Nah, what you need to do what the Snobgirl does and just whack me upside the--" He was interrupted as Juro whacked him upside the head. "See?" Brent jerked a thumb in his direction. "Like that."

"No, no, no." Mason shook his head violently and proceeded to crunch one of Brent's footpaws with his own. "Mike's already got the head thing covered tonight. This works a little better." He folded his arms as he waited for the screaming to stop.

"Alright, alright already." Michael leaned over and clamped a paw over Brent's mouth. "Now that we've figured out how we're going to cover injuring each other tonight, let's get down to business. You gonna be okay?" He looked at the cat as Brent nodded. The wolf withdrew his paw and went on.

"Without a doubt, the kids probably have all sorts of plans to wrangle information from people tonight. Craig's going to get the general soldiers it looks like, Tails will get the bigwigs, and Sora's..."

"Got a surprise coming?" Brent offered.

"Yeah. I wish it was going to be songbirds and sugar, but I'm worried about how she's going to react to it. Anyway, if THAT goes well we're gonna be able to pinpoint Karastil, jump Guard Wing on him and then deal with Axen. Hopefully our beloved Captain will agree with us and we won't have to do anything risky. With that, Advance Wing is going to follow up, and then we'll either have one warlord bound up in chains, or we'll have his various remains. Mason gets dibs on the head to hang on the wall if that happens.

Juro, you're taking up guard duty tonight. Security measures are pathetic, and Karastil's gonna be sending someone in tonight. Not a assassin, just a spy. Weed him out..." Mike turned towards Mason.

"Nutteeth, you get the honor of making sure nothing bad happens to our surprise. If things don't go well for h--it, then they won't go well for you. As in I will kill you with my own two paws."

Mason nodded solemnly. The old guy wasn't joking about that. That was the one that actually scared the squirrel about the Banelan brothers, if you ever got them to actually get off their butts and do something, they would do it with a dedication that would kill ordinary folk. Of course Mike had his other reasons for those little words of encouragement, and given the current status of their little _surprise_, it was going to be a bit of a struggle.

"Brent..." Micheal went on. "You're babysitting. Make sure the kids keep on track, protect them, blah, blah, blah...you get the idea."

"Aw, can't I have the kill the spy mission?"

"No. You'd run around shouting 'SPY!' and beat everyone you see senseless."

"Gets the job done." Brent shrugged.

"No it doesn't." Mike brushed him off. He was fairly certain Brent got the idea anyway. If Juro couldn't figure things out in time, it'd fall to the catboy to make sure the kids still pulled through with things. Not that the tots were in any direct danger, but there was a level of heavy dependence on them for information. It almost made Mike burst out laughing, he was so inefficient at intelligence gathering he had to rely on a little fox cub that was roughly a third of his age. Besides, it's not like it was an extremely hard job. Mason would be responsible for Sora later on the night also, so that was the worst of that duty out of the way.

"And so my good gentlemen, I wish you a very pleasant and entertaining evening." The wolf smiled barring his fangs a bit.

"Drag out the evening a little more, like eeeevvveennning." Mason suggested. "That sounds a little creepier.

"Eeeeeeev...oh forget it. Do your jobs."

The three sitting at the table saluted smartly.

* * *

Tails was fairly certain his legs had just melted. In fact he was absolutely certain that his eyelids had evaporated and his jaw had become permanently unhinged. He imagined he probably looked like more like a household dog than a fox when his face was like that...or he would of imagined it, if he were able to think about at the time. Instead the thoughts going through his head, looked something more like this:

_Holycrapholycrapholycrapholycrap...She'swearingclothes...she'swearingadress..nicedress...realllly niiiiice dress...Do I smell good? Ack! I probably smell like I bathed in cologne! How much did I put on? She's gonna sit down and puke on me from the smell isn't she? Or worse, I'll get too nervous and puke on her...ahhh! It doesn't really matter. Just having dinner with a good friend. A teacher even. Heck, that's nothin'. I can handle that._

_Wait, friend? Wonder if she thinks of me that way. I mean I am friendly to her ain't I? What if she thinks I'm some sort of arrogant little jerk-taco? Have I acted that way around her? Oh crap, I'm going to barf. Niiiice dress. Really niiice..._

It's safe to assume that this trainwreck went on his mind for about a few more microseconds before he was finally snapped out of it. "That's adorable Prower. I wouldn't have ever thought of you in a suit."

Tightening up his jaw, the fox looked up at his dinner date. "Heh?" He managed to cough out. "Excuse me, I have to...I have to go do this _thing_."

"What?"

"This...this _thing_." Tails tried to snap himself out of it. "I've got to go and throw up over myself...I mean the bathroom! I have to use the bathroom RIGHT NOW! Kidneys are about to explode!" The fox ran back into his dorm, slamming the door shut in her face.

"But the bathrooms are down the hall!" The voice came from the other side of the door.

"It's too urgent! There's no time to reach a toilet!" Tails yelled back the door and stared at for a second. Blessed wooden portal. The last line of defense between him and utter ruin.

"Are you alright? I mean, you're not about to snap on me tonight of all nights are you?"

"No, no..." Tails assured her without opening the door. "I'm fine. Just have to remove these darn kidneys that's all..."

"Look if you're not feeling well, you don't have to come."

"No! I want to! I mean..." The fox took a deep breath. "Sorry about all this, I think the cologne's getting to my head."

"You're nervous aren't you? That's even cuter!" The voice laughed a bit.

"You're not helping!" Tails yelled back.

"Sorry, sorry..." It apologized. "Anyways, I'm not gonna be seducing you tonight or anything, and this isn't just going to be you and me, it's a pretty big event."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Tails took another breath. "Sorry, it's just...you're wearing clothes! _Nice_ clothes."

"That just stings Prower, you assume I don't have fashion sense just 'cause I wear armor?"

"No, I assume you don't have any fashion sense 'cause you didn't care." Tails blinked. "No, wait I..."

"I'm gonna open the door Prower. We're going to go to a nice dinner, and you're going to be the best student I ever had. Right?"

"R-right." The fox gulped. "Just one thing?"

"What?" The voice asked, a little annoyed.

"Can ya...can ya just call me 'Tails' tonight?"

"Aw. I like saying 'Prower', it's rhythmic. Fine, whatever you want. I'm opening the door now okay?"

Tails mind started up again in a flash. What was the advice Sonic had given him about girls?

_"Take the cylinders out of my kidneys_

_The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain_

_From the small of my back get the crankshaft_

_And assemble the engine again"_

No! What the heck?

"_The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain..."_

Okay, so he couldn't remember any advice, he was panicking and he had a old drinking song about airplanes stuck in his head.

What WOULD Sonic have done in this situation? Whatever it was Tails was fairly certain he wouldn't have hid under the bed and refused to come out. That lone thought was the only thing that kept him from bolting as the door opened.

* * *

Mason was genuinely impressed, something that was extremely rare for the squirrel.

It was over that little foxgirl. Bad grades or not, she had an opportunity to really work her way up in the company, rub shoulders with nearly all of her bosses and given her charisma would've probably been made Ta'Ka a second after she graduated. All it would have taken was coming in clean-cut, being polite and talking to all the right people.

Instead, she was standing before him wearing camo shorts, a long sleeved t-shirt that boldly declared she was a 'Yang Wen-Li Fangirl" whatever that meant, and a black baseball cap with a skull on it. It was so incredibly perfect that Mason almost felt like applauding. He would have too, had she not given him the coldest glare he had ever seen.

"You, huh?" She grumbled at him.

"Yeah, I'm not too pleased with it either, but they figured if you stuck around your two boyfriends then we'd lose all 3 of you to chatting tonight. Give them a little time to shine, alright?" He grumbled back.

"Fine then." She offered him her arm. "Then let's go in and give the higgies something to spin about."

"That wasn't half bad. But the Board aren't 'higgies' that's reserved for Captains and Chiefs. You call these guys, "beaurovomit'." He corrected her.

"I like it. Than let's make 'em crawl back into the stomach."

"Couldn't agree with you more kid." The two strolled arm-in-arm down the hall and opened the doors to the Cafeteria.

"Arriving, Mister. Howler Mason and Miss Sorrr-agck..." The MC nearly choked as he saw her. "...Sora Lateri."

A loud cheer rose up from about half of the soldiers assembled there, while the Board members chewed a little nervously on their lips. If their 'prize' student was going to be this unsightly, how were they going to sell any type of service to either of the clients?

With an air of smug triumph around her, Sora took the seat that was offered and looked around. It wasn't half bad turnout wise.

"Excuse me miss." Craig's voice came from behind her. Excitedly she turned around.

"So what'ya think, huh? I've got my own little fanclub."

"I'm thinking I need to fill that glass with water." Craig held up a pitcher.

Sora's face fell a bit. "Aw, you ain't gonna pal around us tonight? Can't you get out of it?"

"Wish I could. I'll meet up with you after everything's said and done." He nodded, filling the glass up.

Mason sighed a bit watching this. She wasn't going to be in the mood to meet with anybody after the night was over. Hell, he wasn't even sure if she was going to make it through the next fifteen minutes. Only a few people were left to show up and...

"Arriving, Miss Salah Eterna and Mister Miles Prower."

After Mason had gotten over his coughing fit, bought on by the image of a _very_ nicely dressed catgirl, he squinted a bit. It sort of looked like she was dragging the poor kid by the paw. Tails himself looked a little green, and the squirrel had to admit he'd feel the same way if he were in his shoes.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Sora nodded at him as they walked by. "But ya look like you've got heartburn. Lighten up, it's a pa--"

Tails stared back at her, a look that obviously cried out for two things- Help, and a great desire for her to shut up.

Smirking to herself, Sora took a sip of water as the two settled into their seats.

"Arriving, Mister Tyson Fellis and Miss Kura Saylien..."

The foxgirl drooled a little bit of water out of her mouth and grumbled a bit, not looking at the couple as they passed.

"Arriving, Former Chief Juro Banelan and Ms. Atora Jamington."

Mason chuckled a bit. Juro got a date? With a Ta'Ka member? Given the fact Atora's useless pacifism and overly stern attitude towards things made her unpopular, she must have been hurting for an escort also. He wondered for a second which one of them came begging first.

Noticing who was left, the squirrel kept a careful eye on Sora. This was it, there wasn't much of a chance of this thing going down peacefully, maybe he could get it resolved now.

"Listen," He leaned over. "Put the glass down."

"Why?" She looked at him a little weirded out.

"'Cause you're going to drop it in a few seconds. Believe me. Something's going to happen, and you're not going to be allowed to yell, scream or so much as squeak. Just relax and we'll get you outside. Then you can do whatever you want."

The vixen sighed a bit. "Ah for the love of fructose, I really don't want anything weird to happen tonight. I wanna forget about the whole conspiracy thing just for a li--"

"Arriving, Former High Chief Micheal Banelan and Former Chief Kaze Lateri."

Mason managed to catch the glass just before it hit the ground.

* * *

RETROSPECTIVE

Ta da!

* * *

So, how ya doin'? Everything fine? Yeah, I know. It's been a year. Stuff happend, bad unfortuante cool awesome stuff. Blah, blah, blah, laptop exploded, blah blah, now I'm in Arizona. Yeah, I'm confused too. Anyway...

So here's the deal. The chapter was getting a bit unwieldy in terms of length, and since I saw the need to show proof of concept. I thought it would be better to divide it. Given I have to expand on the remaining text a bit for next chapter, but that shouldn't take too long. This is pretty much it folks, a few chapters left, three maybe four and it's farewell...(Until the sequel anyway.)

A bit to say here actually. I've been in Tails' situation once or twice doing nice dinners usually with women who are either older than me or already attached. That leaves me to babble on like an idiot and turn beet red.

Don't know where Sora's wardrobe came from. (Although, it did make me squirt cola out my nose when I realized I typed it.) Before any of you say anything, she's more attached to Yang because of the underdog status. I'm suprised too, I thought she'd go for the guy that conquers the freaking universe, but I guess everyone has their quirks.

And now for the fun obvious foreshadowing challenge! Spot the minor plot device (Not Kaze) mentioned in the chapter and win! Prizes include an all expenses paid trip to the next chapter! Those who do not complete the challenge must bang their heads against the closest flat surface (Desk, table, etc.) and read again.

Please note that I take no responsiblity for any head trauma that may occur. I mean, I've already caused you some sort of trauma I'm sure...


	30. Kyrie Eléison

_((No Retrospective this time, but I did want to say this: No matter how much time passes. SOMETHING will always be done on Foxday. Enjoy folks, we're very close to the end.))_

* * *

Spit takes are physically impossible, at least the way you usually see them.

The drink-spit combo never exactly comes out in a perfect cone, half of it amounts to nothing more than an advanced form of drool, and the other is much more of a projectile. The spread itself is confusing. You aren't as likely to hit a specific target as you are to drench everybody around you, or at the very worst, prove yourself an even bigger moron by choking on the whole mixture.

Tails knew this full well. An experiment of sorts had taken place a few months earlier during an otherwise quiet breakfast. Craig had let something slip about groin injuries or speech impediments or some other wonderful form of schadenfraude that had caught both foxes by surprise at the exact moment they were trying to down a concoction of orange juice and chocolate syrup in a vain attempt to emulate coffee.

The results had been fantastic. Not only did Sora inadvertently nail Zen from almost five tables away, but somehow Slak walked in nearly 5 minutes later covered in the stuff, the point being that he was out of the room at the time. Tails was still trying to figure that one out, at one point entertaining a theory that his saliva actually contained interdimensional properties.

All these thoughts raced through his mind as he watched Sora swallow her drink extremely slowly. He had to hand it to her, she could read a situation pretty dang fast. Had it been him in her place, he wouldn't have guaranteed such a polite perfor--

At that point, his brain hit a brick wall.

_She's actually being mature! I'm the one lagging?!_

* * *

Kaze Lateri had all of the features of her daughter. Same darkish red fur, a plumier brush than your average fox...

The main key difference between the two would only be apparent to those who knew the younger vixen. Whereas Sora tended to stomp her way across campus and would normally trample across anyone who would so much as dare to stand on the same floor tile, Kaze didn't carry herself as much.

Rather, she didn't carry herself at all.

Her entrance with Michael was awkward, forced. She almost seemed to drag her feet in resistance on the carpet. Craig gulped a bit, holding on to his icewater pitcher for dear life. Thoughts of fear involving how Sora would react, added with thoughts of kicking Micheal's tail to the curb for pulling the stunt were intermingled in his mind and as the two competing ideologies of Cowardice and Chivalry fought in his mind, his only repose from the entire situation was to fill the damn glasses.

"Hey, hey! Watch it buddy!" One of his 'patrons' waved a wing in front of him in an attempt to bring him back into reality.

"Oh, sorry sir." Craig withdrew the pitcher before the glass overflowed. "Just got a bit dist---ohhhh crap."

Now looking at exactly who he was serving, Craig's flight instinct increased tenfold. Green feathers, ridiculously ornate uniform, this wasn't a Ka Master, not by far.

"What, the garb's scaring you? What's with you people, thought the Company was training you for a life in the military." The bird, as far as Craig could tell a duck in fact, smiled at him. "Ever since I got here it's been one heck of a chilly reception. Jerk at the front didn't even call my name, so my grand entrance was screwed."

"Sorry to hear that." Craig half-heartedly mumbled. "Please excuse me." He grabbed the pitcher and walked off as far away from the chair as he could.

He understood the idea of wanting to sell the whole thing to clients, he even understood that maybe sometimes the Ka Masters would work for some pretty...well straight out nasty types. What he didn't understand was wanting to pander to homicidal tyrants.

Who in their right mind would want to work for the Battle Kukku?

* * *

_"Nah, ya see it works like this." Mike tried to explain things, his paws waving about furiously. "If me and Axen are some sort of crimefighting duo, and you're the damsel in distress..."_

_"Why do I have to be the damsel in distress? Do I looked distressed?!" Meora shot up._

_"Actually, right now ya do." Kaze rubbed the cat's head. _

_"...Peh." May shot a single word out of her mouth, folding her arms in frustration._

_"So anyway," Mike went on. "If we're the heroes, and you're the damsel in distress, than Kaze's like the evil villain-ally chick who keeps switchin' sides."_

_"So in other words, I'm insane." Kaze shrugged. "That's fine, I can live with that. Besides, it's better th---_

Mike struggled to keep his balance as Kaze stumbled over her footpaws. "Watch it Fuzzy." He caught her before she could trip. "You'll take me down with ya."

Kaze nodded slightly, not making eye contact and continued even more slowly to their seats.

_"Besides, it's better than being stuck with all the crap all of you guys would have to put up with. You and Axen would have your hands full helping one poor schlob after another and May would just keep getting kidnapped. Sounds to me like I got the better end of the deal."_

_Mike gave her a look. "Okay, forgot the switchin' sides thing, you'd just be a straight out evil villianess. You obviously had your heart replaced with coal some time ago."_

_"Hearts don't burn well enough to keep the train running." Kaze smirked. _

_"That was forced." The wolf rolled his eyes._

_"And your analogies ain't?"_

_"Okay, Fuzzy. I've had it up to here with your..."_

_"Ah, will one of you just propose already?" May laughed a bit._

Very carefully, Mike pulled out the chair for Kaze and sat down on his own. "There. That ain't so bad is it?"

Kaze shook her head and barely squeaked out a no. Looking at the little rabbit coming up to her with a pitcher, she smiled a bit. "You're Craig right?" She asked him softly in a voice that sounded like it hadn't seen much use since shoulder pads went out of style.

"Uh.." The bunny stopped for a second or two. "Yeah. Um, I hope you know you've got a really great daughter and..."

Whatever conversation that would have came up quickly died, as Kaze went back to staring intently at her edge of the table.

"Hey Ias." Michael waved him over. "Hurry up over here I'm dyin' of thirst."

Craig quickly passed him by, sloshing just enough water on him to make sure it was cold and uncomfortable.

"Great." Mike brushed his suit off a little and leaned over and to take Kaze's glass. "Hope ya don't mind. I know it's bad conduct, but I'm a little parched." He poured half of the glass into his own. "Ias is a nice kid though, really. Grows on ya, that sort of type."

His date didn't look up.

* * *

It certainly wasn't the best of situations Sora could have found herself in, not by a long shot. Still fiddling around with the glass in her paws, the foxgirl looked over to one side. "Okay, I'm not going to kill you right away and I might even be nice and only slightly maim you," She whispered to Mason. "But what the hell is going on?"

"Ask me again later when I've figured it out." Mason shrugged. "Michael learned that she was alone and took her out to a party as far as I can tell. Personally I really don't see how she's going to be an asset if it all. If Karastil abandoned her like this, what makes him think...."

"No," Sora held up a paw. "Not this time. There isn't' going to be any magical way to melt this into the 'greater good' or whatever you guys want to pretend it is. I'm asking why did you _let him _bring her?"

"For the sake of beans kid, I barely even know who she is let alone she was like this. Besides, I don't particularly like the idea of getting int the way of Mike's attempts to rejuvenate his love life, or whatever the hell he's trying to do here. All he keeps telling me is that it's part of the plan."

"He never had a plan, remember?" Sora hissed at him. "He drafted us into doing his own research, threw us in harm's way, tries to use us as decoys to draw that bastard out of hiding, and then to top it all off, wants one of us to do him in once push comes to shove. He's making the whole thing up as he goes along, and he's making damn sure he isn't even involved in any of it!"

"Easy, easy." Mason tried to calm her down. "We don't want to get any extra attention here. And for the record, that's exactly what's worrying me. The gal can't even stand up straight, and he still wants her to play canary. Don't even know how she knows anything about any of this though."

Sora thumped her glass down on the table a few times in frustration. "One of you three will suffer tonight for this, believe me. For now, just let me sit here and think about how I'm going to do it."

"No complaints kid." Mason shrugged and took a swig of water. "No complaints."

* * *

"Gippy." Brent stared out of the door to the auditorium, focusing on Sora's increasing agitation. "This is gonna be one heck of a night."

"Gippy?" Sharpear hung another coat up. "Look I understand your love of catchphrases and witty one liners, but that ain't doing it. Sounds like the name you'd give to a pet cactus."

"Sharp? You do know who that is don't you? You ever seen the woman before she was a quivering mess?"

"Unfortunately, yeah I have. Didn't she have a hand in getting Tyson drummed up? You know, like how you drug Prower out here."

Brent shrugged. "Think so. Not really sure. I wasn't exactly best friends with the guy back then. Heck, it was basically just you, Salah, Seth and Kura...have Slak come in and throw a couple firecrackers around and you just described my whole school life."

The dog stopped for a second. "Wait, you're not taking expand--"

"At least here anyway. Geez, you think I'd try to go out in the world with a sixth grade education?" Brent looked at him. "Correspondence, my friend. It works."

"Yeah, well..." Sharpear picked up another coat "All I can say, is that I hope the smaller Lateri doesn't explode once...hello spearmint!" He pulled out a forgotten stick of gum out of a breast pocket.

"Sharp, that's a coat pocket. That thing could have been in there since they built Stonehenge."

"Aged gum, is the best gum." The dog popped it into his mouth and quickly spit it out on the floor. "Okay, no it's not."

Brent stuck his head out again. "Well, at least she isn't going on some sort of rampage. Mason probably slipped something in that drink." The cat slowly leaned against the wall. "Hey Sharp."

"What?"

"You notice what else is out there?"

"You mean our Daffy Duck meets Prussia friend?" Sharpear shook his head. "Probably the Board that invited them. I bet this whole show makes their point better than a couple of Power Point presentations and a free toaster."

"Battle Kukku." Brent mumbled. "They sell their souls...correction, _our _souls to the Battle Kukku. Can't wait to see what that's gonna be like."

A few situations popped up in his mind. Slaughter of helpless innocents? That worked. Gross war crimes involving systematic total warfare? Sure! Throw in some used litter about restoring peace to the world while you take no prisoners out on the battlefield, and that would pretty much fit the bill.

_Now ya know, things aren't that bad._ Logical Brent, one of the more ignored stations of the colorpoint's rather disorganized mind shot up. _Half of that was probably crud shot at you by the Consulate and the other countries that don't get along with 'em. For all you know, they could be liberators, unifiers and a force for good._

"Yeah, but it doesn't work that way." Brent spoke his response, as Sharpear, who preferred to stick to the coats rather than try to make sense of it, ignored him. "If there's an empire bent on world domination, it's not allowed to be good. That goes against every literary device ever spoken, written, or acted out in history."

_Yeah, because __that__ argument works for your everyday. _His mind fired back in a rather tired manner. _Anyways, it doesn't matter. You're nowhere near quitting so if they roll you up to fight with 'em, you'll have to roll with the punches anyway. Just thought I'd justify things a bit._

"Everytime you do that, I end up un-justifying it somehow and make it worse. Exactly what reason you got to make me start paying attention to you now?"

_Patron headin' your way. Cut the crazy. _His mind directed his eyes in front.

"Right." Brent clamped his paws together almost scaring the man who was about to enter the auditorium. "Can I take your coat and hhhhaa...Sorry sir."

It turned out to be Stanson.

"What?" The elk sniffed a bit. "You don't think I'm capable of wearing a hat?!"

"In all honesty, no I don't." Brent winced a bit.

_You know, that's a really good way to get fired._ Logical Brent tried to make a point. Gritting his teeth, the cat attempted to ignore his brain, and forgot to breathe for 15 seconds while he desperately tried to cover up his mistake.

"Sorry sir. Wasn't meant to insinuate anything about your uh...unique head size sir."

Stanson laughed a bit slapping the cat on the back. "Kidding, Mister Crayshen. Kidding."

Brent breathed an inner sigh of relief. It was never exactly all that easy to tell with Stanson sometimes. The whole 'friendly grandpa' bit was always there, but there was also something a lot more sinister lurking beneath his personality if you happened to catch him on a day when his guard was down. Those incidents had only increased as of late, especially since he had finally gotten the chance to become head of the Ta'Ka after what? 30 something odd years? Brent didn't blame him all that much. The tribunal was forever trying power plays against one another and while it was certainly true that the position of head was just a ceremonial honor at best, if you knew how to play your cards right, your influence with the Board and with the Wings was limitless.

Because the elk knew how to play all the various factions off against each other after watching them for a few decades, he was doing fairly well in terms of keeping his power consolidated. Axen was far too weak to possibly give him a serious run for anything, (Not to mention the fact that at least in theory, he was only a temporary member.) and Atora used her excuse of 'active pacifism' as a workaround for being an absolute coward.

Now Atora never made a lick of sense from Brent's perspective. Sure you could argue the pros and cons of pacifism all day long, the more power to you if that was what you honestly believed in. But to join up with a mercenary company that thrived on war? That really wasn't how it worked. As far as Brent could tell, she was never that devious to try and destroy it from the inside and had probably even served a really short tenure as a Guard Wing Chief sometime way back when. So it wasn't necessarily her supposed 'life philosophy' that got to him, it was the fact that she was a liar plain and simple. Granted, nearly every Ta'Ka member worth their salt was a liar, but the ones who could make it all work, were _good _at lying.

"Anything interesting going on in their?" Stanson handed Brent his overcoat.

Brent counted off on a paw. "Your poster child came in wearing camo shorts, nobody's announced the fact that a Battle Kukku showed up, and Mike may or may not actually have a date."

Stanson shrugged. "Sounds like a slow start."

"No kidding." Brent smirked. "But you know how these things tend to pick up eventually."

"Wonderful. The attendant is giving me ominous foreshadowing." Stanson shook his head. "Ah well. And for the record Mister Crayshen, if I wear it between the antlers, I look pretty good in a hat."

"A top hat would still get tangled sir."

"And what makes you think you're an expert on h---oh." Stanson stopped as Brent tipped his own cap, smiling at the elk. "Alright, alright. I'll let it slide."

"Thank you sir. Have a good time."

"Likewise." Stanson nodded and headed in as the MC announced his name.

* * *

Tails' fears for the evening were quietly dispelled by the simple fact, that nearly everyone around him was so dead boring.

"And? I take it your studies are going well?" One of the random bureaucrats from some country or another had pulled him into what passed for a conversation.

_You tell me. You're the one who's been studying my records._

"Yes sir. Very well at the moment in fact." The fox smiled politely.

_Nah, they've been going AWFUL and the only reason why I'm at a reward dinner is because I'm supposed to clean up afterwards! What is wrong with these people?!_

"Excellent, excellent." The man nodded back and turned to someone else starting up another pointless string of questions.

Tails sighed. He was hoping to get information on Karastil, not be stuck here like this. What's worse is that these guys weren't even pretending to care about this kind of crap, they actually did. Hurrah for the genius kid, hurrah for the mindless mercenary the Academy had popped out, hurrah for our future automaton!

Over their cold dead corpses anyway. He had spent the better part of his life trying very hard not to become a robot. He didn't have any ideas of starting down that particular road at this point.

"How long am I stuck here again?" He whispered over to Salah.

"Until the Ta'Ka takes notice that I'm fielding the best student here tonight. Now shut up and do your part."

Tails smirked a hint of vague mischief growing across his face. "You know, despite what the grades say, Craig's far better at the whole mess. Think about it. Better strategist, better overall with the staff, a quick thinker..."

"I know. But you think they care?" Salah deflected the attack with her own well placed cynicism. "You try explaining the subtleties of being able to jump into a pattern without entering Drive and they'll think it's some sort of off color joke."

Tails grumbled a bit leaning his head onto one paw. Out of all the available adults in the room, the one watching over him had to be the intelligent one.

"Hey! Long time no see!"

What? Now one of them was pretending that they knew him? Probably had waved to him during Drills or some...

Waaaait a sec....

That voice should have definitely been followed an explosion.

* * *

_Annette Hanshaw._

_Particularly Annette Hanshaw singing "I Get The Blues When It Rains"_

_Particularly Annette Hanshaw singing "I Get The Blues When It Rains" over a sunny sky, the song barely crackling it's way through an almost destroyed boombox._

_Particularly sitting on some ancient folding chair, sipping something that had more proof than anything her comrades would ever so much as sniff, right next to to the almost destroyed boombox trying to get the tune of Annette Hanshaw singing "I Get The Blues When It Rains" out, over a sunny sky._

Sometimes it was odd how memories came in pieces. One thing would lead to another, would lead to another and before long you had the details, than the conversation, after that the emotions that came with it, and after that....

_She always wore the same sunglasses on the top of her head, never actually bothering to bring them down. It was without a doubt, her own touch to the whole shebang. She had always pushed the Wings to institute an actual uniform. Sure there was the full dress on special occasions, but it would have been nice to have something other than someone's old shirt tied around your arm. You know, so that you didn't look like some sort of grubby warmongering idiot...._

_There was an obvious response from the higher echelons about that._

_So if they wanted to play up to the dirty, gritty image or whatever. She'd oblige. She came up with the sunglasses because as everyone knows...._

_Er...._

_Well, she wasn't sure what everyone knew, just that they were threatening if worn correctly._

_And now here he comes, laughing incessantly. Sounds like he got a hold of it all right._

"_You actually got it?" Kaze stared at him. "What'd you do steal it off a corpse like you did for that necklace you got her for Christmas?"_

"_Nope." He flicked the object up and down in his paw. "Bought it. One-hundred percent mine."_

"_So..." She smirked. "With any luck it won't turn her finger green."_

"_Hope not." He shrugged. "Considering it cost me nearly a paycheck and a half."_

"_Right, and exactly what were you planning on eating for the next few months?"_

"_Whatever I can get of Ax's plate." He chuckled again. "I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. I'm really going to do this."_

"_Well hurry up and get it over already, they're going to have us out in Daroun in like 3 days." Kaze slouched back down into the chair_

"_Oh no, oh no." He waved a paw at her dismissing the comment. "I'm not going to do this and then get myself killed. This'll be my reward."_

"_So she'll literally be the trophy wife. Way to go Mike. You've taken something that could've been romantic and ruined it yet again."_

"Hey. Hey!" She was bought back to the present by someone jostling her shoulders. Kaze looked over. Weird. It looked like Michael but the fur was a little grayer, and his hands were shaking a bit. The voice sounded like him too, except for some sort of weird gravely effect that had been added to it.

"You alright there Fuzzy?" It asked her.

"Annette Hanshaw." She answered quietly.

Itsnotrightitsnotright......

Shut up. This isn't him. This isn't Mike. It hasn't been for years, you've known that.

Not that he ever noticed he changed. Far too important for him. Meora, Meora wherefore art thou you poor pathetic little worm? Stand up on your own two legs for once! 'Cept you can't. You know, 'cause you're dead.

Oh _that_ made her feel a lot better about herself. Go ahead, blame the girl for his failure. Or better yet why not blame it all on Kar again? You're the one that's the worm Kaze. You've always been the worm.

No, no, no! Just stop it! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop it or you'll never be able to...

"Hanshaw?" Mike looked confused for a second. "Oh, the lady that sang "Lovable and Sweet"?

NO, YOU UNFEELING BASTARD! DON'T YOU EVEN CARE?!

"Yeah." Kaze mumbled staring at the table.

This really wasn't him. This wasn't Mike at all.

Good riddens.

* * *

"Wha--?" Tails began, dropped a letter and picked it back up.

"....t?" He finished after a small pause.

"They sent me out here as a representative of the Empire." The bird shrugged his shoulders. "Means I'm stuck in this thing." He picked mindlessly at the lace uniform.

"That's what the 'what' entailed!" Tails nearly exploded. "Why...I mean, I didn't know you were..."

The bird blinked a bit and then laughed. "Oh that. Ah, c'mon you didn't think that 'Dynamite Dux' was just a clever spelling did you?" Not getting a response he messed with his collar. "You know, 'cause 'Dux' means 'Prince' in Latin?"

"That's...I mean..." Out of things to say, Tails deflated into his chair. "It's...really odd to see you here."

"Yeah, you too. Where's the spikehead?"

"Uh...Don't know right now."

The duck whistled. "Don't know?! What the heck happened? I thought you two had some sort of mental link or something."

"Hilarious. Is the idea of me doing something of my own really that offputting?"

"Guess not." The duck shrugged and turned to face Salah. "Really awesome kid you got here. Did you know he built a rocket in less than a day?"

_Noooooooooooooooooo_...... Tails' mind groaned as he sank further down, almost going under the table as eyes started to float to him.

"Only had one chair though. Guess genius can only go so far."

"It was a prototype." Tails whispered.

Salah laughed a bit. "A rocket? Prower? Are you holding out on us?"

"Geez, lady don't you know who this kid is? Remember what happened on West---guoff!" A paw jabbed him hard on the ribs. The duck looked down to see the fox furiously shaking his head. "Uh...I mean. Yeah, it was just an experimental rocket. We all worked on it. Just an inside joke." He tried in vain to cover up the tracks. "Mean, the kid helped of course..."

That got them whispering _more._

Actually Tails had to admit that this balanced things out a bit. Genius or not, if he had a reputation for working with the Battle Kukku before he even signed on, it might make the suits think twice before trying to drag him in on anything. The main focus was just to keep them away from....

"Mean, it was the Sonic kid that..."

...That little tidbit of information.....ah, hell on a cracker, what were they thinking now?

"Mr. Prower." One of them looked over. "Would you mind divulging the nature of the company you keep."

Yes.

"I'm afraid the better part of my youth was spent with a wild vagrant." Tails passed it off just as full of it as it had come. "Rest assured though, I have fallen into better graces as of late."

Okay, _lie._ That'll make everything better won't it?

The Kukku diplomat sensing that he may have overplayed his card, started to catch on. "Ah, forgive me for intruding sir. Only thought you'd be interested in reminiscence." He bowed his head and set off for his end of the table.

"Let me guess." Tails whispered to Salah. "Slak-Ka specifically suggested him."

"Yeah, didn't get why."

"Boom." Tails voice dropped even lower as a another smirk grew on his face. "Only worse."

Okay, checklist.

Jackasses off his back or at the very least confused- CHECK

They (hopefully) won't try to press Sonic in along with him- CHECK

Salah significantly worried the party will end with lots of loud noises and a bit of fire- CHECK

Eh, there were worse ways to spend a night.

* * *

Juro sighed a bit. His so called 'date' had imploded early on as Atora had gotten into a focused conversation with some suit, and finding it so much more interesting than him, had ended up completely ignoring the wolf. Eh, you live and you learn. Note to self- Corrupt politicians make for a lousy night out.

Not that any of that was supposed to be his focus. Watchin'. Guardin'. That sort of thing. Mike was too caught up in himself playing the white knight to do anything useful, Mason more than likely had his paws full trying to keep the younger Lateri from going on a murderous rampage and so once again the duty of making sure everything ran right fell to him.

Younger brothers never get any respect.

He had his eye on the Kukku rep of course, it had been pretty odd when the duck had went straight up to Prower and mumbled something or other, but it looked like the two actually knew each other.

Juro scoffed at the thought a little. Wasn't the kid born on Cocoa Island? Considering what happened there, it wouldn't surprise him if they actually did. "Hello, happened to kill your family. Remember me?"

Hm, whatever. Wasn't his place to judge. His place was to make sure no one died tonight, at least no one on his side anyway. So he kept at it, scribbling away at a small notepad as the night went on.

**APPETIZERS**

**--**

**I don't think they're poison, but they're pretty nasty. Some sort of croissant covered with what I pray to God is gravy. Duck's giving me a weird look. Suppose I should stop growling everytime one of us walks by the other.**

**-**

**SOUP**

**---**

**Actually IS poisoned, but I don't think that's lousy cooking, not actually part of Karastil's plan. Matza balls shouldn't scream when you eat them. Duck's being boring, giving up on him for now. New suspect, the MC. He knows everyone's names and occupation. Need to watch if anything suspicious pops up**

**-**

(Between the next two entries, was a doodle of Mike slowly drowning in a bowl of the said soup)

-

**MAIN COURSE**

**---**

**MC not the culprit. Keeps mangling everybody's names. Called Ketwen a 'Former Advance Wing member' and got decked in the face. Ketwen never resigned his post.**

**Don't know what this meat is. Also suspicious. Could K have bribed the cooks to kill us?**

**-**

**DESSERT**

**---**

(Some portions of this entry seemed to be scribbled out)

**The dessert seems to be a lot of ----- and ----- with ------- Maybe not so ------**

**Note- Never speak of dessert again. Swear off dairy products. More than likely not an assassination attempt, but part of a plot to take over the world. Most suspicions have drained. No one fits K's M.O**

-

As the night continued, the notebook inflated from actual notes to more and more random doodles. We are unable to tell what the last page contains, only that it may in fact be part of an unwritten opera involving dust mites.

* * *

Everything gradually died down. The Guard Wing soldiers thanked Sora for a lovely evening and patted her on the back when her commendation for winning came.

The medal they ended up giving her was to everyone's surprise not made out of plastic but almost genuine copper/zinc. Decorated with the Academy's logo and her name, they told her that they were floored that they got to hand out this award for the first time in years.

So she floored them.

Much to her horror, throwing it at the directors and beaning one on the head did not in fact get her expelled but instead bought up a great roar of applause and laughter that the Academy 'had raised a real fighter that one and even humble enough to turn down the honor!'

Great.

Whatever. The medal wasn't the point. The dinner wasn't even the point anymore. The point was the fact that sitting there, not watching any of this go on was her sad, broken mom. The dinner was over, over, _over_ at this point to her. All she wanted to do was go outside. All she wanted to do was talk to her. All she wanted to do was take that blasted wolf's tail and stuff it straight up his....

"Now." Mason cut her off at the convenient point.

"What?"

"You can see her now. They don't care. They're not watching anymore. Just let them leave first."

Michael-Ka.....no, no! That bastard and her mom slowly left the table and walked out the door.

"We can't go right away. Give it ten minutes and we'll slip out. You're exit's going to make a little noise still."

Fine, fine. She could handle that.

"Any more of that stuff we had for dessert left?" She sighed.

Mason looked terrified. "Why would you want to try and eat that again?! You nearly broke your fangs on it."

"Wasn't going to eat it, just seeing if we could harness it as a weapon."

"No, I'm pretty sure that'd be considered biological warfare." The squirrel shuddered. "I mean, you saw the bits that pretended to be toffee right?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have nightmares about that one." Sora chuckled a bit. Okay, so maybe the dinner had sucked, maybe her world had gone the tubes a bit, maybe this, maybe that. All in all, she almost had fun.

You know, 'cept for the part where everything was horrible and she wanted to forget it for the rest of her life.

* * *

It was cold.

At least the moon was providing some light, and the clouds weren't that thick, but a dead frog could tell what was coming. It made sense after all. Couldn't have a night like tonight without a little bit of rain, it wouldn't do right by the drama of the thing.

Mike smiled helping Kaze out to the door and led her out to the deserted practice fields. "There. See? Wasn't that hard. Now just sit." He motioned her towards a tree and let her down/

"Yurkindjacaz." Kaze mumbled.

"'Scuse me? Didn't hear."

"You're kind of a jackass." She repeated a little louder.

"Oh come on. You wanted to see her didn't you?" He ruffled her head. "Besides it's better than staying at that lonely house while...."

"Ah, come off it."

Mike blinked. That was different.

It was a voice he hadn't heard in years, tinged with the very hints of a accent without having an actual drawl, most of the fuzz and silence that had preceded it, cut out.

"Uh...you okay?"

"No, I'm a simpering little kit remember?" Kaze rolled her eyes and fumbled around looking for the bag she bought in. Finding it, she dug out a pair of well worn sunglasses and slid them on the top her head.

This...this wasn't going right. Mike was honestly confused. He had seen Kaze gradually melt and was convinced that the girl he once knew was pretty well dead and buried. So what was going on?

"You poor little sap. Almost had some sympathy there. Almost." She dug around in her bag again. "Dammit, I hate this. Couldn't be wearing pants tonight, had to fit the part didn't I?" She finally grasped something and threw the bag to the side. "There."

"Okay, what's the joke here? Cause I missed it."

Kaze sighed, shaking her head. "C'mon Moonie, you ain't that bad. Think about things carefully."

"No, I really don't...."

To his credit, he really didn't have any idea of what was going on.

Not when standing there...

Not when she suddenly had him pinned to the ground...

Not even when she sliced his left paw wide open with a serrated combat knife...

No clue at all.


End file.
